Comments:
Now VP, Brand Strategy of TMP Worldwide Advertising & Communications, where I have been with same company under different ownership since January 1983. I am now working on a national level, reporting to the SVP in our San Francisco office, which happens to be close to my family out there. I do a lot of employer branding for clients as varied as HP, Mars, Lockheed Martin, NASA and Community Health Services of Georgia. From 2008 to 2016, I was on a contract with the Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition to encourage technical and business professionals to see the challenges of acquiring aircraft and systems on time and budget not only as an important mission but as interesting as working for private sector tech companies. I am still living in the DC area with some responsibilities to our McLean office, largely in PR for aerospace and defense plus homeland security.
Why I missed the reunion in 2015: Francis in the Schools
As much as I would have liked to seen you all, I had a commitment the weekend of 9/25 to Monday, 9/28 in New York.In connection with the visit of Pope Francis, Cardinal Timothy Dolan invited our non-sectarian group, Francis in the Schools (www.francisintheschools.org), to put on a performance as well as an Umbrian Renaissance Faire for 800 lower-income children in Manhattan and the Bronx.We have put on this event now almost 20 times, most recently in San Francisco. Although we have collaborated closely with the Catholic Church, the program is not as much about religion as it is honoring the value of and divinity in the children that we serve.What they experience is the "time of their life": Games and sports, Face painting. Flower arranging. Fabulous food and treats. Treats and food. And more. That's big for them. Most all of them go to schools that would make Dealey, Kramer, Pershing or Longfellow look like Andover or Groton. All the while they learn about the Pope's and San Francisco's namesake, Francis of Assisi, the Little Poor Man, revered by people of many faiths for living the Gospel of Love for All. We feel it has as much to say to public schools children as religious schools. My role is on the publicity team, and here's the coverage we got from Fox: http://www.fox5ny.com/news/25980642-story
As of today (October 2018), I am still involved with Francis events.
I began in advertising in 1970 at Leo Burnett in Chicago, when the Mad Men Era was still happening. After 11 years in Chicago consumer advertising, GE brought me to DC and Virginia, where, for its network of in-house advertising agencies, I shifted gears into more serious B2B work. When Jack Welch (wisely) ended in-house advertising on that scale, I came to a high tech agency called Stackig, which was bought by TMP Worldwide (Monster.com) in 1998.
I have been with TMP ever since though about 15 years ago I shifted out of creative into strategic roles.
Outside of work, in addition to Francis in the Schools, I am involved with White Pony Express (www.whiteponyexpress.org), a food and clothing rescue service.
