Page 1 - The Rhomer - Winter 2015-16
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Winter 2015-2016 | Sigma Alpha Mu, University of Illinois | Alumni Relations Office | P.O. Box 80828, Atlanta, Georgia 30366 | 770-903-3987

From the President Alumni Spotlight Thomas T. Field ’94
       It has been 10 years since Rho                      Editor’s Note: For this edition of the newsletter we’re shining
                      Corporation was re-organized         the spotlight on Tom Field ’94. From the hometown of Highland
                    when the leadership of the housing     Park, Tom earned his degree in Kinesiology and served the
                    corporation transitioned from Ron      chapter as Kitchen Manager for two years. He then went on to
                    Katch ’54 to a group of alumni         IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law (J.D. 2001) followed by IIT
                    from the 1990s. Much has been          Stuart School of Business (MBA2002). Tom was recently named
                    accomplished during this time:         Head of the Family Law Department at Beermann Pritikin
                    overhauling the accounting and         Mirabelli Swerdlove, LLP. In 2010 he was named by the Law
internal financial infrastructure, launching the website,  Bulletin Publishing Company as of the Top 40 Attorneys Under
establishing third-party maintenance for the chapter       Forty in Illinois. He has been named a Super Lawyer Rising
house, creating new guidance polices for the active        Star every year since 2009 and a Leading Lawyer by the
members, corresponding with the parents on a regular       Law Bulletin Publishing Company each year since 2011.
basis and completing many capital improvement projects.    Field has also been rated AV Preeminent by Martindale-
  These projects have ranged from aesthetics -             Hubbell, the highest possible rating in both Legal Ability
rehabbing the dining room, the weight room, the            and Ethical Standards. Outside of work, Tom spends his
scholarship room, the chapter room to ones for safety      free time with his wife of eleven years Lara and their two
such as installing a sprinkler system, new alarm system    boys Tyler (7) and Zach (5).
and standardizing all lofts, and mechanical projects
such as installing a new boiler and hot water heater.                                                                 between the chapter and not
  Scott Shapiro ’99.50 and I continue to manage the                                                                   only the caterers but the vendors
“day-to-day” operations of Rho Corporation along                                                                      for all our supplies, it was a
with serving as alumni advisors, while Josh More ’96,                                                                 significant responsibility and
Mike Zalay ’03, and Ahmet Markicic ’03 serve as                                                                       definitely a thankless job. That
active members of the board addressing legal issues,                                                                  said, it was real world and it was
event planning and general guidance. Please welcome                                                          1995 a lot of responsibility to make
Michael Karmin ’06 as the new chapter advisor.                                                                        sure 50 or so guys were fed
  We continue to seek other active alumni to be part                                                                  6 days a week.
of the board of directors – this is how you as an alum
can participate and help with its continued evolution      What led you to join the chapter?                              When did you discover a
and success. Being part of Rho Corporation is an easy        One of my oldest friends from overnight                      passion for law?
and meaningful way to give back to the house that
gave so much to us.                                        camp, Eric Berke ’93, pledged Sammies the                         I think I discovered a passion
  If you have any other questions or comments related      year before me. We had reconnected shortly                     for the law in high school, but
to Rho, I am available at danielripes@hotmail.com or       before college and he invited me down to                       I chose to suppress it for some
(847) 682-2791.                                            visit. Eric and the rest of the actives couldn’t               inexplicable reason when I got to
F&F                                                        have been any more welcoming and showed           U of I. I was a good writer in high school
Daniel Ripes ’99                                           me a great time. It really felt like home even    and an excellent public speaker and debater
President                                                  while visiting as a senior in high school.        and won numerous awards at national Model
Sigma Alpha Mu Rho Corporation                                                                               U.N. competitions. So, it made absolutely
                                                           How did serving as Kitchen Manager                no sense, in retrospect, that I parked those
                     Dan and his family.                   teach you responsibility as an active?            skills and became a Kinesiology Major.
                                                                                                             I was somewhat athletic growing up and
                                                             I took on the kitchen manager role as           had a variety of injuries that go along with
                                                           the assistant in the second semester of my        playing sports and got it in my head that
                                                           freshman year. We still had catered food at       I wanted to be an orthopedic surgeon in the
                                                           the time and it was a bit of a tedious job        sports medicine area. I was so stubborn that,
                                                           creating menus, trying to figure out what         even when I decided after freshman year that
                                                           people would eat, how much or how little          I would pursue law school instead of medical
                                                           food and supplies to order, how to stay           school, that I continued on as a Kinesiology
                                                           within a budget, and how to maintain the          major hoping that it would differentiate me
                                                           cleanliness of the kitchen. As the liaison        during my application process to law schools.

                                                                                                             What was your law school experience like?
                                                                                                               My law school experience was a good one.

                                                                                                             I lived at home and commuted into the city
                                                                                                                                 Field (Continued on Page 4)
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