That’s me in the picture...

I’ve been described by others as an entrepreneurial business and marketing executive, contract negotiator, and former diplomat with useful-to-others corporate, banking, and public sector networks. My incarnation as an author is much more recent: people had been telling me to capture my thoughts in a book about the constructive and good ways people behave, and as I explain in Commitments’ Preface, I finally buckled down to do the work later in 2012.

A long-time resident of Washington DC with New York City roots, I consider myself very fortunate to have had the opportunity to build a career in business and marketing planning, strategic marketing, commercial real estate financing, human resources consulting, and career mentoring.

Prior to that, I served as a US Diplomat and was selected to serve on Secretary of State Kissinger’s staff at the State Department. Lucky to have been posted to the American Embassies in Paris and Prague, I was asked by the Secretary of State to serve as policy advisor to senior senators and congressmen on Capitol Hill, and was named to represent the United States at several multi-national negotiations. Earlier in my career, I served in the US Army as Brigade C-5 (Civil Affairs) in South Vietnam and was awarded the Bronze Star.

In the community, I brought on to the Leadership Council and the Development Advisory Council at WAMU, one of the country’s top three public radio stations, where I helped colleagues enhance the station’s comprehensive business and fund raising development initiatives. I also lectured as Adjunct Professor in marketing, business ethics, contracts, and human resources at Potomac College in Washington DC.

These days, I help not-for-profit groups plan their marketing, build their networks, and raise more funds. I mentor local Washington DC area entrepreneurs and business groups, have served as counselor to the Georgetown University Social Entrepreneurship Competition, and occasionally write for publication.

My vices? I trip out on classical and modern music and taking long-distance road trips by car. One of the best of those trips was in my old BMW, from Washington DC to the Yukon and above the Arctic Circle in Alaska—and then all the way back—a saga written up in the BMW Car Club Roundel magazine.

I attended George Washington University where I earned a Master’s degree in Public Administration in 1966, and Dickinson College where I majored in Political Science and US History and earned my Bachelor’s degree in 1964. I still can speak passable French, barely get by with rusty Spanish, but my even more rusty Czech doesn’t do me very well at all.

我为什么加入 Couchsurfing

My next book will be about people I meet in the smaller cities and towns in the US; Couchsurfing seems to be a compelling way for meeting these creative people.

兴趣

Writing
Politics
Music
Dance - especially funding the dance industry
Non-for-profit work where the mission is centered on improving the lives of the disadvantaged
reading
road trips

• writing
• books
• dancing
• ethics
• clubbing
• politics
• reading
• music
• business
• teaching
• entrepreneurship
• history
• law
• political science
• public administration
• science
• road trips

音乐、电影和书籍

Books (just a few of them)): The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Hare With The Amber Eyes, Middlemarch, Magic Mountain, Gone With The Wind, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil; To Kill A Mockingbird

Movies (just a few of them): Breakfast at Tiffany's, The Misfits, Casablanca, American in Paris, Casablanca, African Queen, Fried Green Tomatoes, Casablanca, Picnic, and (want to be sure to include it) Casablanca

Shows: West Side Story, Music Man, My Fair Lady, The Most Happy Fella (saw the originals on Broadway, a hint at how ancient I may appear to some...but not others!), Phantom of the Opera

Music: Classical: Saint Saens, Dvorak, Silbelius, Liszt, Beethoven; Brahms, Grieg, Gershwin (classical works); Pop/Folk: Joni Mitchell, Elton John, Lady Gaga, BeeGees, Alison Krause, Cat Stevens; Standards: Ellington, Miller, Gershwin (OMG the Gene Kelley soundtrack of "Our Love Is Here To Stay" in "American in Paris"); Broadway Musicals: South Pacific, Oklahoma, Phantom, King and I and plenty more; Soundtracks: The Sting; Breakfast at Tiffany's, Summer of '42, Picnic (the film)

我做过的一件不可思议的事情

Did a solo road trip from Washington DC to the Arctic Ocean via the Yukon ... and back ... wish there had been couchsurfing back then (2006)...

教，学，和分享

I provide (free) a lot of career counselling and networking assistance to help people find their next incarnation. I am always learning how people translate their inner thoughts into action ... or not ... I share networks, lots of networks ...

我可以与沙发主分享些什么

A great deal of experience and enthusiasm ... a good laugh ... stories about terrific people, especially creative people who have defied all the odds and not taken "no" for an answer...how to raise money ... how to find jobs ...

我游览过的国家

Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russian Federation, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Venezuela, Viet Nam

我居住过的国家

Czech Republic, France, United Kingdom, United States, Viet Nam