Alumni Notes

  1. Frank Groves

    has published a golf instruction book, Drive It!. The book contains stories and instruction by the U-M golfer, and may be purchased by contacting Burford Books, Inc. at www.burfordbooks.com or the author directly at vangroves@aol.com.

  2. Gen. Paul J. Kern

    has completed his three-year tenure as commander of the US Army Materiel Command in a ceremony at Fort Belvoi, Virginia. General Kern steps down as AMC commander, having been in the position since Oct. 2001, and will officially retire from the US Army in January 2005. He is one of only 10 four-star generals in the Army.

    As commander of AMC, Kern was responsible for a diverse group of commands whose focus is materiel readiness for the soldier and the warfighter. Kern oversaw research and development efforts, the acquisition of materiel and the logistics to ensure dominant land force for soldiers. AMC has had a number of roles in Iraq and Afghanistan to include prepositioned stock, the executive agent for Army Reset to repair and refurbish equipment, and to equip the force with the necessary materiel such as vehicles, aircraft, communication systems, food and shelter, and ammunition and bombs.

    Kern has served in a number of positions throughout his Army career to include the Commander, 4th Infantry Division (Mechanized); the Senior Military Assistant to the Secretary of Defense and Deputy Secretary of Defense, Washington, D.C.; and the Director of Requirements (Support Systems), Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations.

    Kern served three combat tours with the US Army. As the Brigade Commander of the 2nd Brigade, 24th Infantry Division during Desert Shield/Desert Storm, he led the attack on Jalibah Airfield allowing the 24th ID to close escape routes across the Euphrates. He also served as the Assistant Division Commander of the 24th after its redeployment to Fort Stewart. As a junior officer he began his career with two combat tours in Vietnam with the 11th Armored Cavalry as a platoon leader and troop commander.

    Kern was raised in West Orange, New Jersey, and graduated from West Orange High School. He was commissioned in July 1967 as an Armor lieutenant following graduation from the US Military Academy at West Point. In addition to his master's degrees in both mechanical and civil engineering from Michigan, he held a Senior Service College Fellowship at Harvard University.

  3. Bruce Segal

    has joined the Detroit-based law firm Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP as a partner in the Litigation department in the firm’s Oakland County office. Prior to joining the firm, Segal was a partner with Miro Weiner & Kramer, PC in Bloomfield Hills. He is admitted to practice in Michigan, the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, the US Court of Appeals for the Second and Sixth Circuits, the US Tax Court, and the US Supreme Court. He resides in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

  4. John Gregg

    has joined the Barnes & Thornburg LLP firm as an associate in its Grand Rapids office.

    Gregg’s practice primarily focuses on bankruptcy and creditor’s rights law. He frequently represents secured creditors, committees, debtors and purchasers of assets. In addition, Gregg was an extern for the Honorable Susan Pierson Sonderby in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Prior to joining Barnes & Thornburg LLP, he served as an associate in the bankruptcy departments of two international law firms located in Chicago.

    After receiving his BA from Michigan, he earned a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from DePaul University College of Law. He is a member of the American Bankruptcy Institute and the Chicago Bar Association.

  5. Jeffrey Miro

    has joined the Detroit-based law firm Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP as a partner in the Corporate and Securities department in the firm’s Oakland County office. Prior to joining the firm, Miro was a partner with Miro Weiner & Kramer, PC. in Bloomfield Hills. He is an Adjunct Professor of Law with the University of Michigan Law School, where he teaches courses in taxation and corporate governance. He also served as the Chairman of the State Bar of Michigan’s Federal Tax Aspects of Real Estate Committee, Real Property Section, from 1981-1984. He is a member of the American Bar Association and the Detroit Bar Association and is admitted to practice in Michigan and New York.

    Miro resides in Bloomfield Township, Michigan.

  6. James K. Cleland

    has joined the firm of Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione, one of the nation’s largest intellectual property law firms, as an Associate in the Ann Arbor office. He will concentrate on patent, trademark, copyright, unfair competition and trade secret litigation, as well as on patent prosecution in the chemical and mechanical fields.

    Prior to joining Brinks, Cleland was a senior associate at Greenberg Traurig in Chicago. He received his JD cum laude from Indiana University School of Law in 1997, where he won the Best Brief Award in the Sherman Minton Moot Court Competition.

    Cleland is a member of the American Bar Association, the Chicago Bar Association and the American Intellectual Property Law Association.

  7. James L. Katz

    a senior Associate at Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione, Chicago, one of the largest intellectual property law firms in the country, has been named to the first Intellectual Property Advisory Board at Indiana University School of Law Bloomington. Katz, a 1998 alumnus of IU's law school, focuses his practice in prosecution and litigation related to computer, e-commerce and Internet technologies. Prior to joining Brinks, Katz was a test engineer and design engineer focusing on architectural design for enterprise-scale mainframe systems and simulator software development for multiprocessor storage architecture.

  8. Alan Bloom

    is now Chief Administrative Officer and General Counsel of UHP Healthcare in Inglewood, California. UHP is a nonprofit HMO that serves mainly minority and underserved populations. "After 23 years in working in an investor owned HMO is Los Angeles, this new job gives the opportunity to help arrange are for the people who need it most," Bloom says.

    "The University of Michigan School of Public Health gave all of us who received our educations there the ethic of service. Finally, after 34 years learning the business in the field, I can be true to my alma mater and give back to society some of what I have had the opportunity to take out."

  9. Deborah L. (Williams) Dubois

    was awarded the 2004 John Philip Outreach Award at the Ohio Library Council Conference in Cincinnati on October 1, 2004.