What's Up:
Terre and I are into art, reading, restaurants, and wine. We're also
into travel, which some people find interesting since I have
traveled somewhere on business three or four trips per month all
over the U.S. since 1977.
Over the past three years, we have made three trips to France and
one each to Tanzania, Kenya, the Seychelles, Canada, Belize, Mexico,
British Virgin Islands (sailing), Fiji (honeymoon!), and all over
the Caribbean and the U.S. Now that we are retired, we may never be
home!We also try to stay fit. Two great
exercise adventures were fundraisers for a non-profit medical
research institute for which I am a trustee: a seven-day climb up
Mt. Kilimanjaro; and, last October, going from the Pacific coast of
Costa Rica to the Atlantic coast in seven days -- mountain biking,
some hiking, and river rafting, no motors.
In September
of 2006, we will trek through the Peruvian Andes, taking a remote
Inca backdoor trail and ending up at Macchu Picchu after seven days
and 30,000 vertical feet. COME WITH US! It promises to be a rare
adventure with challenge, culture, and beauty. There is also a less
strenuous ancillary trip that also ends up at Macchu Picchu on the
same day. Please see me at the reunion or email me if you are
interested!My Occupation:
Right after
graduation, Kay Kennedy's dad gave me a job working in his frozen
foods warehouse (7 degrees below zero). I worked my way up to being
a truck driver, delivering frozen foods to restaurants, and for the
next fours years, the money I earned as a food delivery dude paid my
way through Colorado College (with help from a scholarship and a
student loan).
Little did I
know then that I would be doing the same thing FORTY years later! I
retired September 1, 2005, after twenty-one years as Chairman and
CEO of The SYGMA Network, Inc., a company I founded from scratch in
1984. Today, SYGMA is one of America's largest suppliers to
restaurant chains, with sales in excess of four billion dollars.
Our drivers drive big SYGMA eighteen-wheelers over one and half
million miles per week (three round trips to the moon!), making two
or three deliveries of food and related products to chain
restaurants (like Wendy's and Appplebee's) in over 95% of U.S. zip
codes from sixteen SYGMA distribution centers nationwide.
My Family:
After forever
(it seemed) being single, last June I was lucky enough to marry
Terre, who had been a great friend for thirteen years. She and
darling twelve-year-old daughter Ashton have really classed up my
life.
Terre had an awesome career on-air and as a producer with CNN and
NBC News; then as a public speaker and as a crisis communications
consultant. Most recently, she spent four years with the White House
until we married. Now we're both retired!
Three years ago, daughter Kim, son-in-law Greg, and special girls
Alexa and Olivia, moved back to Denver. Greg is with SYGMA, and Kim
gave up a super career with Quaker Oats and Pepsi to become a
full-time mommy, though she works from home part-time with Young
Presidents Organization, a group I have been very active in.
Soon after Kim and Greg moved back home, son Scott, daughter-in-law
Kelly and their fine boys, Christian and Connor, also moved back to
Denver. Kelly is also a full-time mommy, and Scott is with Leprino
Foods, my alma mater before starting SYGMA. Love having everyone
back home!
Favorite Memories:
Bonfires (I'm
sure that old farmer north of 32nd no longer actually USED that
outhouse we liberated...). Surfing music at the Barns. Top School
-- I learned then that a hundred thousand anythings is a LOT. My
"hot" black '59 Beetle that I would often park on the sidewalk next
to the gym. Miss Christensen's speech class (or was it just Lois? --
I meant to say, MISS Christensen...oops). Doing the first period
announcements. Hall passes. Madras shirts with that cool loop on
the back. Horseback hootenannies with a guitar, a campfire, and
hard cider on the mesa above Applewood.
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