Information industry veteran Rafael Sidi, MA’90, joined ProQuest as general manager of information solutions. He leads strategic development for academic markets around the world. He spent 12 years at Elsevier, where he held several senior positions, including head of product management and development for many of the company’s largest, most successful and innovative products. Andrew DeGuire, IBS MA’95, recently co-authored his first book, “Betting the Company: Complex Negotiation Strategies for Law and Business,” which focuses on teaching lawyers and business people the theoretical concepts and practical applications of negotiations. He is vice president of business development and global growth at Johnson Controls. Michael Silbert, Heller MMHS’96, MA’96, was named executive director, Jewish chaplain and rabbi of the newly established Hillel at the University 
of Rochester. Rochester’s Hillel community was previously part of the Hillel of Rochester Area Colleges, which included the Rochester Institute of Technology and SUNY Geneseo. Michael was most recently executive director of the Vancouver Hillel Foundation. Beate Sissenich, MA’97, is a visiting scholar at New York University’s Center for European and Mediterranean Studies and author of “Building States Without Society.” John Kelly, MA’98, serves as director of Second Thoughts Massachusetts, a disability rights group that helped defeat proposed legalization to permit assisted suicide in Massachusetts. Robert Maroni, Heller MA’99, is country director in Jordan for Mercy Corps, a global relief organization. Robert and his team of 100 local and expatriate staff workers manage 10 projects, including a $20 million program funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development to refurbish Jordan’s failing municipal water system. Ron Riekki, MFA’99, wrote the novel “U.P.” and also writes poetry and short stories. His work has been published 
in The Oklahoma Review, The Christian Science Monitor and The Toronto Quarterly. He is a member of the Screen Actors Guild and the Dramatists Guild. 
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