Chuck Ortenberg

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Current Home City: Menlo Park, California

Your College: Arts and Sciences

Email: cro27@cornell.edu

Tell us what you’re doing with your life:
After graduation My first year out of Cornell was working in beautiful downtown Newark, New Jersey, I left to get my MBA at Wharton.  Straight after graduation, I married my college sweetie, Patty Stone ’78.  We moved to California and I worked in a variety of roles at Hewlett Packard for 27 years, all in Silicon Valley except for a 2.5 years stint in the UK.  Since HP, I have been consulting, mostly.  We moved back to the Valley in May of 2015 after 4.5 years in San Francisco.  It is a mixed bag to be back  in Menlo Park – our house is still great, but in San Francisco every day is a Halloween party.  There is an incredible amount to do and see, and the car can stay in the garage.  Patty and I have two sons, David ’09, who is an attorney, and Richard, who is a software engineer.  They live in SF so we can see them frequently (when they want us). Spare time is mostly volunteer work and rooting for the Giants.

yohann-chuck-daveIn what year did you last set foot on the Ithaca campus, and what was the purpose of your visit?
The last time I was at Cornell was in 2011 for the Cornell Sprint (nee Lightweight) Football Varsity Alumni game.

List your favorite class(es) while at Cornell.
Econometrics
American History (Pollenberg)

Which piece of information or advice did you pick up while a student at Cornell that has been useful in the past 40 years?
Keep grinding – TANSTAAFL

What are you looking forward to at our 40th reunion in June, 2017?
I’m hoping a lot of my good friends will attend so we can catch up.  I also look forward to the lectures (and the beer tents!).

Chuck Ortenberg is the Class of ’77 Treasurer