Mentoring Circles

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The John L. Ward Center for Family Enterprises (CFE) is pleased to offer family business students the opportunity to engage in meaningful small group discussions called mentoring circles. The mentoring circles are guided by CFE alumni and veteran family business leaders. These facilitators are leaders in their professions who willingly share their knowledge and experience to enrich the lives of family business students. All Kellogg students from a family enterprise are encouraged to participate.

The groups are limited in size (3-5 students to 1 mentor), so that all participants will have the opportunity to discuss, dissect, contribute, and learn. The informality of the gatherings further contributes to rich and robust discussions. Groups will be sorted by topical interests and will meet at least 3 times over the course of the quarter.

Mentoring Circles Bios


Anne Eiting Klamar M.D.

Chair of the Midmark Board of Directors
Former President and CEO of Midmark Corporation.

Anne brings additional leadership experience from numerous boards in which she serves, including Professional Women in Healthcare, Little Rapids Corporation and several others. She is on The Ohio State University Foundation Board of Directors and the Board of Overseers of Penn Dental Medicine. Anne is an active member of the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) and has been a director of Midmark Corporation since August 1993.


Edward Brenninkmeyer

Cofra Holding AG

Edward is a sixth-generation family member of Cofra Holdings AG. He began his career in C&A, the family retail business, where he worked in marketing and operations roles in Germany and Brazil.

Outside of the family business, Edward worked for Coca-Cola, One Equity Partners and Birch Hill Equity Partners' Citron Hygiene. He received a BA in History with Distinction from the University of Virginia, was awarded the Dean's Award from Stanford's SIGM Program and holds an MBA from Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management, where he was President of the Rugby Club.

He is also Chairman of the President's Young Advisory Board at EARTH University. Edward and his wife have three young children and love spending time outdoors


Enrico Leta

Managing Partner, Yorgus & Vitalatte

Enrico is a third-generation family member of Zona Sul, a high-end grocery chain in Brazil. He is also the co-founder and managing partner at Yorgus & Vitalatte, a manufacturer of clean label cheeses and yogurts in Rio de Janeiro. Enrico launched the first authentic greek yogurt in the Brazilian market in 2014, now distributed nationally and one of the top yogurt brands in the country. Before Yorgus, Enrico had experiences in consulting and finance in the United States, Mexico and Brazil.

Enrico graduated with an MBA from Kellogg School of Management in 2011 and a B.S. in Management from Boston University in 2004.


Erich Struckmeyer

Sr. Vice President and General Manager of the Commercial Business Unit at Chamberlain Group

Erich Struckmeyer is the Sr. Vice President and General Manager of the Commercial Business Unit at Chamberlain Group. He is also a member of the Board of Directors at The Duchossois Group and serves as Vice President of the Duchossois Family Council.

Erich received his B.A. from the University of Iowa, JD from Marquette University Law School and an M.B.A. from Kellogg School of Management.


Jamie Shah

Chief Operating Officer at The Spice House in Chicago

Jamie Shah is the Chief Operating Officer at The Spice House (a family founded company) in Chicago, the purveyor of the finest spices and herbs. She was formerly the Vice President of Operations at her family's business Chem-Impex International Inc., a manufacturer and supplier of raw materials to life science researchers. She has also previously worked at Hyde Park Venture Partners, Google and Goldman Sachs.

She holds an M.B.A. from The University of Chicago's Booth School of Business, and a dual undergraduate degree in Spanish literature and language and Finance, Investments and Banking from The University of Wisconsin's School of Business.


Jay L. Owen, Jr.

Managing Partner, DOM Capital Group

Jay is a Managing Partner of DOM Capital Group, a firm he co-founded in 2008 to build iconic, consumer focused businesses that have a lasting impact on people's lives. DOM brings decades of operating experience and relationships to partner with entrepreneurs and founders in growing their businesses. Prior to DOM Capital, Jay was an Executive Director at JP Morgan and also held senior positions at Morgan Stanley and PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting. He currently is a board of director for Kona Deep, Suckerpunch Gourmet, and Tortas Frontera and is a former board member for Freshii.

Jay received a B.S. degree from Northwestern University and an M.B.A. from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.

He actively participates on the Board of Trustees for the Museum of Contemporary Art of Chicago where he chairs the Buildings and Grounds Committee, The Northwestern University Leadership Council Board, The Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center Advisory Board, and Loyola University Board of Regents. He and his wife Shawna are also actively involved in the Foundation for Fighting Blindness as well as the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. He is a past board member of Teach for America and the Chicago Botanic Garden.


Jonathan Russell

Board Member, Milliken & Company
VP/GM of CUES, Inc

Jonathan is a fifth-generation family member and currently serves on the board of directors of Milliken & Co., a 155-year-old textile and chemical company. He served on the family council for six years -- four of them as Chair -- and has participated in many committees and initiatives across the governance system over the last 20 years.

Jonathan currently works as VP/GM of CUES, Inc., an Orlando-based manufacturer of pipeline inspection equipment owned by public parent company SPX. Prior to this role he worked at Tektronix (parent Danaher, then Fortive) for ten years in a variety of escalating leadership roles.

Jonathan graduated with an MBA from Kellogg in 2010 and a BA from Stanford University in 2000.


William Feinberg

President of Dorsar Investment Company

William Feinberg is the President of Dorsar Investment Company, a diversified investment company investing primarily in private equity and real estate. Prior to his role with Dorsar Investment Company, he was a finance and business strategy professional with over 10 years of experience relating to the financial services and real estate industries. He received an M.B.A. in Finance and Strategy from Kellogg School of Management.