Philip A. Andrews has been recognized for legal excellence and client service by the 2020 legal ranking guide, The Best Lawyers in America. Phil received top ranking for his work in the areas of Bet-the-Company Litigation, Commercial Litigation, and Government Relations Practice. Phil is a business litigator, procurement lawyer, and Chairman of the law firm Kramon & Graham in Baltimore, Maryland.
Allan Gold retired from McKinsey & Company after 22 years in the firm’s editorial and publishing group. He served on the board of editors and as editor-in-chief of the McKinsey Quarterly, the firm’s flagship publication. He also edited the McKinsey quarterly website, and worked as an executive editor in the firm’s publishing group. He plans to stay in the thought leadership business on a project basis, and has also joined Chicago-based firm Leff Communication as a senior advisor.
Laura Guilfoyle has gathered her favorite short stories and poems about teaching fifth grade for a recently released book, “Survivin’ da Heights: Tales from the Schoolyard.” She has shared these stories with her students over the years and they are fan favorites.
Karen Williams is creator and co-host of the new classic soul music podcast The Back Cover. The podcast, which provides new episodes weekly, explores topics related to music, production and the business behind classic soul music of the 60s, 70s and 80s. New episodes of the podcast will load every week. It can be found on Stitcher, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Apple podcast, Spotify and at http://backcover.libsyn.com.
John P. Miutz was awarded the North America State and Provincial Lottery’s 2019 Powers Award for Performance Excellence for his 27 years of service as Advertising/Marketing Manager for the Michigan and Virginia Lotteries.
Lori Waldon is President and General Manager of KOAT TV, ABC affiliate in Albuquerque-Santa Fe, New Mexico. In her role as President and General Manager she oversees an award-winning station with a strong reputation for journalistic excellence and outstanding community service.
Lori was promoted to her current position after serving as Regional Director of News for Hearst. She was also news director of KCRA/KQCA in Sacramento, California, where she led a nationally-recognized news operation. Under Lori’s leadership, the channel earned two prestigious national Edward R. Murrow Awards for Overall Excellence and Breaking News; six consecutive regional Murrows for Overall News Excellence; three consecutive Emmy Awards for News Excellence; and Emmys for Breaking News and Best Newscast.
Before joining KCRA, Lori was the news director at WISN 12 News in Milwaukee. Lori joined WISN-TV from Sacramento duopoly CBS 13/CW31, where she served as assistant news director. She previously spent 13 years in news management roles at KPIX-TV in San Francisco, serving as managing editor, executive producer and news producer. Prior to KPIX-TV, Lori worked as a news reporter at stations in Charlotte, North Carolina; Mobile, Alabama; and Peoria, Illinois.
Kathleen James was elected to the Vermont House of Representatives in November 2018, representing the Bennington-4 district. A Democrat, she serves on the Education Committee and has been appointed to the New England Board of Higher Education and also to the NEBHE Legislative Advisory Council. She’s the co-vice-chair of the Climate Solutions Caucus and a member of the Social Equity Caucus and the Women’s Caucus. She’s a proud graduate of Emerge, a hands-on program that trains women Democrats to run for public office. She’s also the executive director of the nonprofit International Skiing History Association and editor of its bimonthly journal, Skiing History. James lives in Manchester Center with her wife, Alexandra Heintz. Her oldest daughter lives in Chicago and her younger daughter is a junior at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Jennifer Tanaka was named senior editor of digital news at Chicago Public Media WBEZ 91.5-FM. In her new role she’ll lead the digital content team “to amplify WBEZ’s position as an essential destination for outstanding journalism and news coverage in Chicago,” according to a station announcement. She formerly worked as an executive digital editor and deputy/senior editor at Chicago magazine. Since 2014, Tanaka has been director of digital communications in the alumni relations department at Northwestern University.
Barry Pearce won the grand prize in the Chicago Tribune’s 2019 Nelson Algren Literary Awards. The nationally recognized annual competition honors original short fiction. Pearce’s short story, “Chez Whatever,” was chosen from among the more than 3,000 pieces submitted to the 2019 contest. The short story passed multiple rounds, and was finally selected over five other finalists by judges Mona Simpson, Jane Smiley, and Jennifer Acker.
“Chez Whatever” is the story of a young woman who, while struggling through a snowstorm to meet her lover, has a strange encounter at a valet stand that alters the course of the evening and, in ways she won’t appreciate for many years, the trajectory of her life.
It is part of a book in progress, a collection of linked stories called “The Plan of Chicago.” Pearce lives in Chicago, where he works as a ghostwriter.
Dan Weinrib is the incoming president of the Jefferson County City Clerks Association for the 2020 term. This past August, he received his state municipal clerks certification after completing prerequisite continuing education in just under three years. In June, he will have completed his two-year term as Temple Beth-El board president.
Weinrib pictured here with Baseball Hall of Famer Johnny Bench and Dan’s son, Jack, at the 2019 Opening Day celebration in Cincinnati.