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Former Member

joyce.swanke fellow Industry Principal, and social media instructor, asked me to join the Blog It Forward Community Challenge in her recent blog post Blog it Forward - Joyce SwankeShe asked the following questions:

What event(s) led to your career choice?

It was the only way to come to America... Working in a consulting firm in London, I dreamed of living in New York for a couple of years.  The firm dragged its feet, and after a year of pestering them, they finally said yes, but I would be working in the Retail practice (I wanted Financial Services.)  I agreed, and two years have turned into two decades.  Some days, as the evening sun drops below the concrete canyons of the city, I wonder if I said no, would I now be retired on some tropical isle, with an offshore bank account or two.

What is the most fun project you ever participated in and why?

Of the many, a couple come to mind... Huddled in a customer’s massive warehouse for two years with a team of 100+ consultants flown in from across the country, we developed a system called "Retail 2000" (you can tell, this was sometime in the 90's).  We had some crazy deadlines, and often pulled all-nighters, but got to know some amazing people and made some of my best friends there.  Oh yeah, and some wild things happen in a warehouse in the wee hours of the morning.

Some time later, a fast growing software company wanted to tailor its software for the retail industry.  They asked some consultants to help them, so we wrote a 3 inch thick report on retail requirements and flew across the pond to present it.  The clash of cultures was colossal.  For over a year, both sides flew back and forth forming, storming, norming and eventually performing as a team.  Now when we reminisce, we have a tremendous laugh recounting our naivety and how we have mellowed over the years.  I’m glad we've had the ability to make fun of ourselves.

What are you passionate about professionally and/or personally?

I love traveling and meeting people, and also learning of all the wonderful different ways we approach basically the same questions, whether in the retail industry or in our lives.

I would like to blog-it-forward to:

my fellow Retail Industry and Solution Principals:

randy.evins andrea.france Matt Garvis liz.hall  colin.haig Steve Kadolph Carrie Van Sickle jon.wurfl

our VP and SVP:

Carol Mackenzie Michael Schulze

and our colleagues in the Retail IBU:

mohamed.amer jason.boyer tom.redd mark.ledbetter lori.mitchell-keller

with the following questions:

  • What event(s) led to your career choice?
  • What is the most fun project you have ever participated in and why?
  • What are you passionate about professionally and/or personally?
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