1993 Class News

David Priess ’93 has been named chief operating officer of Washington, D.C.’s Lawfare Institute, known for the prominent Lawfare Blog that focuses on hard national security problems. David served at the CIA during the Bill Clinton and George W. Bush administrations as an intelligence officer, manager, and daily intelligence briefer. His private sector management experience in the past 15 years has focused on small organizations in and around the national security arena. He is also a writer and speaker on the presidency, intelligence, and foreign policy. His two books are The President’s Book of Secrets: The Untold Story of Intelligence Briefings to America’s Presidents (2016) and How to Get Rid of a President: History’s Guide to Removing Unpopular, Unable, or Unfit Chief Executives (2018).

It’s almost game time for our 25th college reunion. On behalf of organizing committee, I hope that you are planning to return to Illinois Wesleyan University on October 5-7th to celebrate the best class in IWU history (the only class to be ranked #1 in the Midwest for four consecutive years).

We have planned a host of great activities for you and your family. We’ll be hosting a special Happy Hour for the Class of ’93 in downtown Bloomington on Friday night from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. at Tony’s Tacos. This will be a great chance for us to catch up and reminisce about our college days. We’re looking for special pictures from our college days so please send your favorite college photos to Melissa (Gadrinab) Beaver at shesacontender@hotmail.com.

On Saturday, we will have a special reunion tailgate at the football game and our reunion celebration on Saturday evening. A full schedule of reunion activities can be found at here. Please make sure to register and check out the Alumni website to see all of our classmates who are planning to attend. I’d also encourage you to reach out to your IWU friends and encourage them to come back for the 25th reunion.

We are hoping that our class will make a splash by endowing a scholarship in honor our 25th reunion. We need to raise $25,000 to create a scholarship that will be awarded annually to help a student attend IWU but we need your help! I hope you will join me in giving a gift to IWU in honor of our reunion ad to help the next generation of IWU students. To make a gift click here and note the Class of ’93 Endowed Scholarship Fund the notes section.

I look forward to seeing you soon!

Reunion Activities

Pre-celebration: Friday Oct. 5th, 6:00 to 9:00 p.m.
Tony’s Tacos
105 W. Front St., Bloomington 

Dinner:  Saturday October 6th, 6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
McLean County Arts Center
601 N. East Street, Bloomington

See Reunion Information will be posted here.

Mark Denzler ’93  the current Illinois Manufacturing Association vice president and chief operating officer, will become the IMA’s new leader upon Greg Baise’s retirement effective January 1.

From 2003-2006, Mark oversaw government affairs in Illinois for State Farm Insurance. He focused on a number of issues including insurance, education, taxes and fees, and auto safety legislation. Prior to joining State Farm, Mark worked at the IMA as director of government affairs from 1999-2003 where he concentrated on tax, environmental and educational issues. For more than six years, Mark worked as a legislative analyst for the House Republican Leader. He staffed the education and transportation committees including serving as liaison to Governor Edgar’s Eikenberry Commission on education funding. In addition, Mark worked on a number of elections across Illinois while an employee of the House Republican Campaign Committee. Mark also spent a brief time on the Washington D.C. staff of Congressman Tom Ewing.

 The IMA represents nearly 4,000 Illinois companies and facilities and has been in existence for 125 years.

http://www.sj-r.com/news/20180716/baise-retiring-as-head-of-illinois-manufacturers-association