Give a Rouse

Bank of North Dakota president John Hoeven '79 defeated Democrat and state attorney general Heidi Heitkamp to become governor of North Dakota in November. Also winning spots in state government: Anna Holiday "Holly" Benson '93, elected to the Florida House of Representatives, and John Carney '78, elected lieutenant governor of Delaware.

In one of the most closely watched corporate successions, General Electric Cos. has anointed Jeffrey Immelt '78 to succeed one of the business worlds most fabled CEOs, Jack Welch, at the end of 2001. The 44-year-old company man made a name for himself as president and chief executive of GE Medical Systems.

Michael Dennis '81 is one of the top 50 African-American leaders in corporate America, according to Black Enterprise magazine. Dennis is the vice president of worldwide operations and services for Lucent Technologies' recent spin-off, Avaya, a worldwide provider of communications systems, He also chairs the board of directors of the Central New Jersey chapter of INROADS, which prepares talented minority youth for corporate and community leadership.

Debra (Rudich) Smul'86 has been promoted to senior vice president, corporate development, of Oxygen Media, a group of 19 Web sites and a cable television network tailored to women. Smul was responsible for a variety of special marketing and development projects for Oxygen, including overseeing ka-Ching, Oxygen's finance and business Web site.

Filmmaking couple Jiiann Spirzmiller 'B9 and Hank '89 created the one-hour documentary Homeland, which aired nationally on PBS in November. The film follows four Lakota Indian families over the course of three years as they face some of the challenges of life on their reservation.