Craig has always been a force of nature; I learned so much from him. Craig was the president of Hartman Employee Benefits (HEB) when I joined the firm and I was fortunate to work closely with him. He taught me a lot about business, including the importance of leadership, salesmanship, and, most of all, relationships. …
Month: April 2020
There is an idea that the value of a brand is measured in the extent to which the consumer associates a relationship with the product or service. There are some distinctly Northern European brands that I feel like I have a relationship with, including Royal Copenhagen, Skovby, Georg Jensen, and Bang & Olufsen (B&O). Notably …
I started working in the insurance business in 1998. I was a twenty year old student at Penn State University, where I studied economics and business administration, and I attended a career fair seeking a “real life experience”. I spent the prior summertime working as a licensed real estate agent in Bethlehem, PA and felt …
“I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.” Mark Twain April 12, 2020. It is Easter Sunday, the fourth day of Passover, and the beginning of the fifth week of the coronavirus-caused shutdown in Pennsylvania. We began the day with a brief note to my Uncle Knud in Denmark, with whom we spent last …
In thinking about the can of worms I opened about this topic, I started jotting notes on directions I might take next. There are so many possilbities. As a matter of inquiry, I found and perused an old copy of Keynes’ General Theory, looked at old international finance lecture notes from Professor Stanley Zin, and …
“How can you not be romantic about baseball?” -Billie Bean We are nearing the end of the fourth week of state-imposed isolation in Pennsylvania. It is also the first full day of Passover. So, in addition to continuing to cope with virtual school, virtual meetings, and the inability to visit with friends, we are also …
I developed an interest in distressed finance during my time at NYU-Stern, in part due to a very interesting professor, @restructurings, as well as some very cool and smart classmates, with whom I am blessed to remain connected. I have been rereading @elerianm’s The Only Game In Town over the past week and I have …
I turned CNN on last night and noticed two familiar faces: Don Lemon was interviewing Branford Marsalis, a leading jazz composer and brother to Wynton, another highly accomplished and recognized musician. Branford’s father, Ellis, has died as a result of covid19. I am not a musician, but I love music. In particular, I love jazz …
One of my favorite sections in the Economist is the Obituary. The publication tends to find interesting individuals to memorialize with evocative accounts of their lives. On March 21, the subject was Falafel, a world backgammon champion, who died at age 51. I am typing this note on March 31, 2020, during the early part …