June 2018 Connections

Pamit Surana (1989, top left) hosted a tour of lower Manhattan for local Coca-Cola Scholars as part of the #CokeScholarsPro event series. The group started out with dinner and drinks at Fraunces Tavern, the oldest building in all of Manhattan, then took a 2 hour walking tour.

They ended at the waterfront for post-walk drinks and bites where they discussed effective communications and managing upwards in organizations. #CokeScholarsPro events are regional opportunities for Coke Scholars to learn new professional development or other special skills from each other.

Karen Lee (1991), Karishma Popli (2012), and Cesar Aviles (2000) attended the APAICS (The Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies) Awards Gala Dinner as guests of The Coca-Cola Company in Washington, DC. It is the premier event to celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. The evening honors Asian American and Pacific Islander leaders, both current and pioneers, and recognizes outstanding individuals and organizations that continue to politically empower the AAPI community. Coca-Cola supports the APAICS mission in building the political pipeline for AAPIs, and was honored with the 2018 Corporate Achievement Award.

David Buckholtz (1993), Christopher Gray (2010), and Christina Khavarian (2008) had a mini reunion in Los Angeles at an event supporting the STEM Advantage scholarship. David is on the board of the scholarship & Chris was the keynote speaker.

Our Center for Creative Leadership faculty partner Sam Soloman hosted Demi Kelly (2014) and Kerri Peterson (1997) at the CCL campus in San Diego, where they completed the Center’s Value Explorer™ exercise, a core component of the Coke Scholars coaching program that allows Scholars to affirm personal values they hold dear and consider how their core values influence their decisions and actions. For more information about CCL or coaching, contact Jamie Williams at jwilliams@coca-cola.com.

2017 Scholars Tejas Sekhar, Maria Sarah Lysandrou, Heather Weller, and Jackson Blackwell grabbed lunch in Chicago and walked around the city. Jackson said it was fun to catch up and reminisce about Scholars weekend.

Kim Gohman (1993) was in town for her work with The Coca-Cola Company, and we discovered she had been in meetings on the CCSF floor without us knowing!

Amanda and Marc Eichenbaum (2000) ran into Katerina Glyptis (2010) at a bar in New Orleans over Memorial Day Weekend! They had just met each other at the Coke Scholars cookout at Marc’s house in Houston the week before.

Jason Feldman (1990) met up with Pamit Surana (1989) when Pamit was visiting Seattle.

Ishan Johnson (2001) and Athena Lao (2008) shared a Coca-Cola at the Chicago History Museum, where Ishan works. Athena said, “Ishan gives the best tours so be sure to stop by next time you’re in Chicago!”