October 10, 2003

The May Report: 10/10/2003: Big scoop time: the relationship between Motorola
and its outsourced IT operation run by CSC is a huge mess and it is
complicating the planned IPO for SPS; China, once again, is center stage

Editor and publisher: Ron May, ron@themayreport.com, ronaldmay@aol.com,
773-525-3944.
__________________
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_________________
TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Scoop section:

— Fastmobile Raises Additional $1.9M in Series A
— Illinois has three, but I would argue four, Nobel prizes this year
— Briefly noted, by Ron May

1. READER COMMENTS AND RESPONSES
1a. Dave Morrison: A comment on spiritual stuff
1b. Dan Limbach: The Hungry Communicator Awards
1c. Comments on SAP mailing from Jake Mathew and Jonathan Ashton (2 messages)

2. OTHER (Events)
2a. Monday, Oct. 13: MEF downtown meeting: Marketing Strategies That Could Mean
The Difference Between Success Or Failure!
2b. Thurs., Oct. 16: WITI Chicago: Beyond Technical Competence
____________________
Fastmobile Raises Additional $1.9M in Series A

ROLLING MEADOWS, Ill. — Fastmobile, a Rolling Meadows, Ill.-based provider
of mobile instant communication services, said it raised an additional $1.9
million in Series A financing, bringing the total for the round to $5.9
million, VentureWire has learned
___________________
Illinois has three, but I would argue four, Nobel prizes this year

Ill. Has Link to 3 Nobel Prizes This Year
Wed Oct 8, 5:42 PM ET

By ERIC FIDLER, Associated Press Writer

CHICAGO – With winners in physics, literature and medicine so far this year, it
seemed almost strange that no one from Illinois won a Nobel Prize Wednesday.

Last week, South African novelist J.M. Coetzee, who teaches at the University
of Chicago, won the prize in literature. This week, researchers Anthony J.
Leggett of the University of Illinois and Alexei A. Abrikosov of UC’s Argonne
National Laboratory shared in the physics prize, and University of Illinois
professor Paul C. Lauterbur was co-winner of the prize in medicine.

Professor Charles F. Zukoski, vice chancellor for research at Illinois, said
the state is reaping the benefits of investments made in its academic
institutions long ago.

“Investments made probably 40 years ago built these programs,” he said. “That
created an environment where really creative people can do really creative
things.”

It’s rare that a year goes by without the University of Chicago having some
connection to a Nobel Prize. The school counts 75 winners who were faculty,
students or researchers there at some point in their careers.

So Zukoski can be excused for crowing a little about the University of Illinois
having two winners in one year.

“We of course think we’re deserving of many more,” he said with a laugh.

There’s one more Nobel to be awarded this year: The winner of the Peace Prize
will be announced Friday. Former Illinois Gov. George Ryan, who declared a
moratorium on the death penalty and commuted all the state’s death sentences,
is one of several nominees.
__________________
Ron May here. Actually, I count FOUR Nobel Prize winners for Illinois this
year, not three, but Argonne does not have the PR machine that the University
of Chicago and the University of Illinois have. Look at the actual record: They
left out Alexei Abrikosov in Physics who is at Argonne National Laboratory.
++++++++++++
STOCKHOLM, Oct 10 (Reuters) – The 2003 Nobel prizes were awarded to the
following:

PEACE

Iranian lawyer Shirin Ebadi for her work in defending human rights –
especially for women and children — and promoting democracy.

Ebadi, Iran’s first woman judge before the Islamic revolution forced her to
step down, is the 11th woman to win since the peace prize since it was first
awarded in 1901.

LITERATURE

South African novelist J.M. Coetzee, portrayer of a desolate vision of his
racially divided country with a lean allegorical style compared with Franz
Kafka and Samuel Beckett, for his ruthless criticism of the cruel rationalism
and cosmetic morality of Western civilisation.

A white South African raised in an English-speaking home, Coetzee, 63, writes
in English despite his Afrikaans background. He lives in Australia but spends
part of the year teaching in Chicago.

MEDICINE

American Paul Lauterbur and Britain’s Peter Mansfield for their discoveries in
magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), a painless diagnostic method used by doctors
to look inside the bodies of millions of patients every year.

Lauterbur, 74, is a professor and director of the Biomedical Magnetic Resonance
Laboratory at the University of Illinois, College of Medicine at
Urbana-Champaign. Mansfield, 70, is a professor of physics at the University of
Nottingham.

PHYSICS

Russians Vitaly Ginzburg and Alexei Abrikosov and British-born Anthony Leggett
for theories that led to the development of magnetic imaging scanners.

Ginzburg, 87, was head of the theory group at the P.N. Lebedev Physical
Institute in Moscow. Abrikosov, 75, works at the Argonne National Laboratory in
Illinois. Leggett, 65, is at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Abrikosov and Leggett also hold U.S. citizenship.

CHEMISTRY

U.S. scientists Peter Agre and Roderick MacKinnon for studies of tiny channels
in cell membranes, which have contributed to the understanding of fundamental
life processes.

Agre, 54, from Northfield, Minnesota, works at the Johns Hopkins University
School of Medicine in Baltimore. MacKinnon, 47, grew up near Boston and works
at Howard Hughes Medical institute at the Rockefeller University in New York.

ECONOMICS

American Robert Engle and Britain’s Clive Granger for inventing ways to
forecast economic risks for investors and studying how economic activities
interact.

Engle, born in 1942 in Syracuse in the state of New York, teaches at New York
University’s Stern School of Business. Granger, born in 1934 in Wales, is an
emeritus professor at the University of California.

DYNAMITE

The Nobel prizes, first awarded in 1901, were created in the will of Swedish
industrialist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite who died in 1896. This
year, each prize is worth 10 million crowns ($1.3 million).

The economics award was not among the original prizes but instituted by
Sweden’s central bank as the “Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in
Memory of Alfred Nobel” in 1968, and first awarded in 1969.

The prizes, widely regarded as the world’s most prestigious accolades for work
on behalf of science and humanity, are presented in glittering ceremonies in
Stockholm and Oslo on December 10, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death.
______________________
Briefly noted, by Ron May

* Major scoop time, folks. It has been a long time since one of my regular
sources gave me a great scoop.

I found out today that the relationship between Motorola and its IT outsourcing
partner CSC is on the rocks big time. Everyone is pulling their hair out and
systems are crashing.

To make matters worse, Sam Desai, the architect of the deal, has been told very
recently by Motorola COO Mike Zafirovski that he cannot retire in December as
he had planned, but must now stay on for at least six more months to straighten
out the mess.

And what a mess it is! A disk drive takes a Motorola executive four months to
get. There is a four step approval process for anything you want. The reason is
that when the outsourcing was done, they decided to use a hybrid of Motorola’s
processes and CSC’s processes rather than going with either firm’s procedures.
As a result, no one understands the system and no one knows who is in charge.

This situation is complicating the ability of Motorola to spin off SPS
(Semiconductor Product Sector) as its own IPO. This operation has been losing
$150MM a quarter for years. So Motorola has decided to spin it off, but the
computer systems are so entangled now that they can’t do the IPO.

Lest you think this is a minor problem, easily solved, think again. There are
hundreds of millions of dollars involved. First of all, CSC is hugely hamstrung
here. My source indicates that Motorola management is well, shall we say,
“pathetic.”

The way Motorola set this outsourcing deal up, all the employees were lifted
and dropped into CSC from the Motorola IT operation, but they were not trained
and they were scattered across the CSC organization.

Second, the employees cannot be fired and their benefits cannot be reduced.

For CSC to make any money, like most outsourcing operations, they have to be
able to consolidate systems and reduce headcount. As my source pointed out,
“the economics don’t work.”

So, we are left with chaos. The people know the Motorola way, but are operating
in an alien organization. CSC’s hands are tied and that is a result of the way
the deal was structured when the outsourcing was agreed to about five months
ago. Here is what I reported in TMR on May 19, 2003: “One woman in IT at
Motorola said that she is soon to be carrying a CSC badge since the IT function
has been outsourced to CSC. This is the first I am hearing of that.”

Five months and the thing is unraveling in a major way. You read it here first.

* I attended a fascinating session of the Kellogg Alumni Club last night which
was actually a joint meeting between Kellogg and the University of Michigan
business school. The topic was China and India. One of the speakers was Linda
Lim, a professor in corporate strategy and international business at the
University of Michigan. She has that spark plug personality. Linda is an expert
on business issues involving developing countries. She is Chinese and comes
from Singapore (a city-state of 4 million people) and has a B.A. from
Cambridge, an M.A. from Yale and a Ph.D. from Michigan. She also heads
Michigan’s Southeast Asia Business Program. By the way, Linda is speaking on a
panel here next Tuesday morning to the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations.

One of the other speakers was Garth Milne, a Senior VP and Treasurer at
Motorola who has been with the firm since 1979. Garth is by far the most laid
back person at that level in a major company that I have met. He wore no tie,
no jacket, a wrinkled shirt, but believe me, he knows his stuff. The third
speaker was Stuart Oakes, an executive VP at International Components
Corporation.

To say that the evening was a lively discussion would be an understatement.
Linda was mobbed by at least fifteen people after the talk and stayed around
for a good hour after the formal session ended.

There are a lot of arguments and even more statistics that I would like to go
over on the tape and in my notes, but let me give you the “big picture.” The
timing of the Thurow event yesterday morning and this one last night could not
have been more apt. Thurow discussed the Chinese currency problem and I can pat
myself on the back for having the journalistic instinct to spot that as a
“newsworthy” part of Thurow’s talk, which is why I lead with it. Then I show up
at the Kellogg event and guess what topic dominated the evening. Yes, you’re
right, none other than the currency valuation issue in China.

Linda was adamant that the Chinese have to do what is good for them and she
argued rather persuasively that while changes may be made to the valuation of
the RMB (the Chinese currency), there is great concern tht floating the
currency would be the wrong move. To support that argument, she pointed to
Mexico and the Asian financial crisis of a few years ago. The Chinese are very
concerned that they do not compound a problem of rising unemployment with a
currency crisis which could spark social unrest and instability generally.

Garth backed Linda in her argument, pointing out that the Chinese really have
two exchange rates, one for domestic and one for foreign.

He also noted that the Chinese government is the most concerned with the well
being of the masses of the three mega economies in Asia — China, Japan and
India. In China one issue is that there are significant regional differences in
income that factor into the decision not to upset the currency. The interior
cities are developing more slowly than the Coastal cities in the south of
China. After the event, I talked to Bernie Ostrowsky, an attendee and long-time
Chicago high tech networker, about this. He told me that it is partially a
matter of how goods can be transported. The coastal cities can get cargo from
ships, but the interior cities must rely on infrastructure that is just now
being built. Bernie added that they Chinese want to link to Europe through
bullet trains that can travel at 270mph which is what they have in Japan. That
will reduce the cost of shipping goods tremendously. He also pointed out that
companies wishing to do business in China and perhaps build a plant need to
consider a lot of infrastructure issues as well. There are roads, water
systems, etc. to be concerned with as well.

So, the poorer areas in China are in conflict with the richer ones from an
economic development point of view and the Chinese government is cautious about
creating more problems in the rural areas than they already have. Bernie told
me that it was very astute of Garth to point out the two exchange rates and he
said that this is not reported in the media very well. By the way, Bernie gets
much of his info. from the Financial Times of London.

I have to go over the tape for more detail on the currency issue, but from my
notes Linda was aguing that there are many ways that China can address the
currency issue other than a float or significant revaluation. She suggested a
staged and multi-faceted approach, noting that they have a VAT tax and can
refund on exports. (Do I have this right?) Anyway, nothing dramatic right now
was Linda’s basic position, and there are lots of ways to handle the situation
other than a float. Whatever you do, don’t go to a float, even if you do
revalue. She challenged Thurow’s suggestion for a 50% revaluation, saying that
she has heard numbers between 10% and 40% but never as high as 50%. One
audience member pointed out that the Chinese devalued their currency by 50%
some years ago (I think about ten), but Linda said that this had a minimal
effect.

Garth bolstered Linda’s argument by suggesting that a revaluation would hurt
competitors of Motorola and he declined to say whether it would hurt Motorola
relative to its competitors. Linda also noted that the issue of trade deficits
is not just about the U.S. where China actually runs a surplus and China is the
second largest purchaser of U.S. Treasury notes, helping us to keep interest
rates down and pay our debt.

The other issue Linda raised was China’s trading relationships with the rest of
Asia and the ASEAN organization. That factors in as well. I believe they run a
trade deficit with many Asian countries. Is that right?

Before I get off of China, let me say that Linda gave a lot of stats about jobs
going overseas and talked about the effects of NAFTA, etc. The argument was
that the loss of 3.3 million jobs (I think that is a Forrester estimate) here
in 12 years is not that much. Linda took the historical view and stressed that
we have weathered the loss of many manufacturing jobs here over 30 years and
many of the people who are complaining now were not complaining then. That may
be a class thing, she suggested, because the people who are being hit now are
“people like us” and suddenly it is a big deal.

Her core response was that one must plan for multiple careers in life and be
flexible.

Furthermore, don’t forget the theory of comparative advantage which tells us
not to try to do everything. If you are ten times better at Task A and three
times better at Task B and twice as good in Task C, do Task A where your
advantage is the greatest. At the end of the evening, she told an interesting
story about a conversation she had with some Taiwanese people who lost all
their industry in just a few years. The thrust of it was that in Asia they are
willing to move for a job, even to another country, and they are willing to do
what it takes to make themselves marketable, by returning to school, etc. She
told one story about a family in Singapore that discouraged their son from
majoring in computer science at Cornell because seven years ago they saw the
end of the IT fever. After the talk, I heard Linda discussing the attempt by
Singapore to build a critical mass in biotech and life science, but she doubts
that they can do it, and she even suggested that it is not a sure thing at
Michigan.

Using the example of NAFTA, Linda pointed out that 250,000 jobs were lost,
which she said was not much at all, but 2 million were created.

The other big picture point that I learned last night was the huge difference
between doing business in China and doing it in India. Because of IT and
software and call centers, I thought that India was an easy place to do
business, but apparently not so. India does have lower wages than China, by the
way, contrary to what Lester Thurow said yesterday, but as Linda Lim pointed
out, China has higher wages but much higher productivity. For products that are
highly labor intensive, China is a natural fit, Linda argued. For capital
intensive, I don’t know.

The core problem in doing business in India is a huge bureaucracy, regulations,
a transportation problem, and general inefficiency. Garth waxed fairly
eloquently after the talk while chatting with Mike Muth (formerly of the
Canadian consulate who is looking for a job in international sales and
distribution) about the regional differences, the religious differences, the
sect differences and the political mess in India with so many parties which he
said are far greater than those in China.

Garth pointed out that all the major companies from countries in Asia are in
China, but very few are in India. He did say that India is starting to get its
act together and that they are starting to make it easier to operate there. The
software and IT industry just requires the click of the “send button” he said
which means a company can by-pass a lot of bureaucracy.

He also noted that the black market for cell phones in India constitutes about
80 to 90% of the market, but that is not true in China.

The statistics that Garth provided for Motorola bear out these differences.
India is 1% of sales for Motorola, whereas China is 14%. Motorola has 1,500
employees in India or 2% of its work force and China has 12,000 to 14,000
employees. The rest of Asia makes up 15% of sales and 10-15% of employees.

In total, the U.S. market is 40-45% of sales for Motorola and Asia is 30%.
Asian sales are double that of Europe as are the number of employees. Don’t
hold me to this, but I believe that Garth said that China is 30% of Motorola’s
manufacturing. Is that possible?

Anyway, the Motorola love affair with Asia began in the 1960s with Hong Kong
and Korea. In the 1980s they tried joint ventures in China but that did not
work out. They were better off going the wholly owned subsidiary route which
they did in the late 1980s. Tieneman Square in 1989 cost them a year and a
half, Garth said, so it was really 1990-91.

You can see that last night was chalk full of good information and it deserves
closer treatment.

So, here is the deal. Karl Buschmann has very graciously offered to enlighten
readers of this report with a regular column on China. He will start next week.
We have tentatively decided that the column will be called “Karl on China.”

I know I get excited periodically about the latest new thing, like wired in
2001 and nanotech in 2002, but yesterday it did occur to me that China is
something that I may be able to get my arms around and it could be the
direction to go. There is little doubt that the Chinese want to be the “factory
to the world” and as Garth and Stuart Oakes pointed out, they have the energy,
the entrepreneurial spirit and the organization to do it. An interesting
observation from Stuart was that when it comes to IP his firm is not too
worried because their technology is battery chargers, but he is worried about
“know how” going out the back door or the side door in China. That worry is not
there in India.

Stuart noted the duties on parts in India and the infrastructure issues in
India including transportation. Even though the labor costs are half that of
China, the hassle is not worth it, he explained.

In my notes, I noticed that Lester Thurow said that China decided to enter the
international economic game in 1995 and then he said that this changes the game
when a fifth of the world’s population decides to join in.

Thurow also said that with the end of socialism, capitalism is of necessity
changed.

Thurow is a pundit and punditry comes with risks. If you always try to have
something new and interesting to say, you are bound to be wrong a certain
percentage of the time. Bob Ingersoll reminded me yesterday that around 1990,
Thurow predicted that all the spending on IT would result in no productivity
increase. Last year, in a talk to the MIT Enterprise Forum by satellite, Thurow
suggested that we would have a double dip recession because interest rates can
only go so low. I heard nothing about that issue yesterday.

A correction: The Sosa homerun was 495 feet, or at least that is what Brad
Spirrison tells me.

And a Cubs trivia fact: it is cheaper to buy a plane ticket to Florida and pay
for a hotel there and pay the face value they charge for playoff tickets than
it is to pay $1,100 here for a ticket. Evidently, they had about 5,000 people
show up for games in Florida during the regular season. Not exactly a baseball
town.

I got up at 5:30am this morning and wanted to go to the talk on the importance
of being lazy, but it was a morning meeting at 8am and was out by O’Hare. What
kind of lazy person schedules a discussion of lassitude for that early in the
morning?
_____________________
1. READER COMMENTS AND RESPONSES
1a. Dave Morrison: A comment on spiritual stuff
Subj: RE: Spiritual Stuff, Verses
Date: 10/7/2003 11:29:27 PM Central Daylight Time
From: dlrjmorrison@earthlink.net (David Morrison)
To: owner-mayreport@list.themayreport.com

Ron,

God does work in mysterious ways…and sometimes not so! Each and every
one of His words is a clear and timely message to His chosen ones.
Receive it as good medicine.

Dave Morrison
___________________
1b. Dan Limbach: The Hungry Communicator Awards
From: “Dan Limbach”
To:
Subject: The Hungry Communicator Awards
Date: Thu, 9 Oct 2003 17:18:13 -0500

Hi Ron,

The Hungry Communicator Awards are in full swing. Winners are
nominated by their peers, for their excellence in marketing,
training, or corporate communications. Winners receive two-dozen
Krispy Kreme doughnuts delivered to one of their upcoming staff
meetings. Way, way yummy.

Recent winners include professionals at a major Chicago bank and
a top ad agency. The mouth-watering Krispy Kreme doughnuts put a
charge into their meetings. The accompanying napkins feature a
crossword puzzle with a Chicago flavor (just in case the meeting
turns boring). It’s all in good fun and in good taste (as any
Krispy Kreme fan already knows).

People can nominate their worthiest compadres at
www.sireninteractive.com/donuts . Nominate as many people as you
like. The best part is there is no cost or obligation of any
kind. Sponsored in whole by Siren Interactive, Inc.

Give a friend the fluffy-hot taste of pure decadence. Join the
fun today.
www.sireninteractive.com/donuts

Regards,

Dan Limbach
_____________________
1c. Comments on SAP mailing from Jake Mathew and Jonathan Ashton (2 messages)
_________
#1: From: “Jake Mathew”
To:
Subject: Re: The May Report: 10/07/2003: An Invitation for Chicago Business
Leaders.
Date: Thu, 9 Oct 2003 08:40:41 -0500

Thanks for the info, Ron. I would have not heard about thsi had it not been
for your email.

Regards,
jake//
++++++++++++++++++
#2: From: “Jonathan Ashton”
To:
Subject: bait and switch – FW: SAP Business Forum Acknowledgement
Date: Tue, 7 Oct 2003 09:55:59 -0500

Ron – I hope all is well with you today.

I “registered” for the SAP event that you publicized, and here is the result -
getting placed on a waiting list. I hope I make the cut! In order to get to
this point, SAP asked me to answer 25 questions about who I am and what I want
out of them. Clearly we are not one of their target customers, but I thought
that all I had to do is sign up and I would be in. And you know that all I
want to do is go to meet other people.

An excellent way to build a database of contacts!

Cheers -

Jonathan
Mir Internet Marketing
312.435.5452

—–Original Message—–
From: SAPBusForum@sapevents.com [mailto:SAPBusForum@sapevents.com]
Sent: Tuesday, October 07, 2003 9:41 AM
To: jashton@seologic.com
Subject: SAP Business Forum Acknowledgement

Dear Jonathan,

You have been placed on the Chicago SAP Business Forum ’03 registration waiting
list. Should space become available, you will receive full conference details
via an
e-mail confirmation.

In the meantime, if you have questions regarding this event, please call us at
1-888-592-1727.

Regards,
SAP America
______________________
2. OTHER (Events)
2a. Monday, Oct. 13: MEF downtown meeting: Marketing Strategies That Could Mean
The Difference Between Success Or Failure!
Subj: MEF October Newsletter and October 13th Meeting Information
Date: 10/8/2003 1:35:16 PM Central Daylight Time
From: mef@gss.net (MEF Headquarters)
To: ronaldmay@aol.com
CC: kim@gss.net (kim Miggenburg)

MEF REPORTER
MIDWEST ENTREPRENEURS FORUM, INC., Volume 7, Issue 2b, October, 2003

Come join us on Monday, October 13, 2003 for our

Chicago Chapter Presentation:

Marketing Strategies That Could Mean The Difference Between Success Or Failure!

Our meeting will be held at:
Chicago-Kent College of Law (IIT)
565 W. Adams, Chicago
Time: 6:00 8:00 p.m.
Cost: Free to members, $20 for non-members
(no reservations are required)

About our meeting:

The difference between marketing and sales is that marketing is bringing a
product or service to a customer, whereas sales are bringing a customer to
a product. Marketing is getting people to raise their hands. Sales are
getting people to sign their names. Experience with start up companies
shows that the three hardest tasks for high tech entrepreneurs are (1)
securing the necessary funding, (2) recruiting good people, and (3)
establishing an effective sales/marketing organization. These are not
necessary in the order in which they should take place. Much of the
training conducted by non-entrepreneurs focuses on number one when in fact
number three should be the one driving their company. You stand a much
better chance of raising outside money when you can demonstrate people are
willing to pay for your product or sales. When you place number two before
number one you demonstrate that you have attracted a successful management
team and this also increases your chance of securing outside funding. A
strong business plan has an outstanding marketing section that spells out
how your product or service will be sold to the market.

The infusion of cash jump-starts production, but it is premature to
celebrate until you get that first customer. And how do you do that? Like
financing, there is no cookie-cutter solution, no magic bullet for getting
your product to market.

At tonight’s meeting we’ll examine a variety of marketing strategies to
take your company from Zero to Herotechniques to grow your business,
whether youre a one-person practice or a much larger organization.

Tonight’s panelists bring years of experience and almost as many war
stories that may assist you in tailoring a program for your specific target
market. And tailoring is the operative word here. From the veritable
toolbox of marketing strategies, you must find the right combination for
your product and your market. To help you, we’ve assembled a panel of
professionals with varied marketing backgrounds. Each of these panelists
are entrepreneurs themselves and so can relate to the struggles you face as
you build your company.

Tonights moderator is Jerry R. Mitchell President of Jerry R. Mitchell and
Associates Inc. and President of The Midwest Entrepreneurs Forum; Panelists
will include Michael Nikolich President of Tech Image LTD and member of the
board of The Midwest Entrepreneurs Forum, Neil F. Anderson president of The
Courage Group Inc., Cheryl Gidley president of Gidley Consulting

Please plan on coming with your questions, as a large part of the program
will be your questions and their answers.

About the Midwest Entrepreneurs Forum

The Midwest Entrepreneurs Forum (MEF) promotes and strengthens the process
of starting and growing companies by providing services, which educate and
inform entrepreneurs. MEF meets the second Monday of each month (except
July and August) at the Downtown Campus of the Illinois Institute of
Technology, 565 W. Adams Street, Chicago, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. A suburban
meeting is held the last Tuesday of each month (except July and August)
from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Daniel L. and Ada F. Rice Campus of the
Illinois Institute of Technology, 201 East Loop Road, Wheaton, IL
(directions below). Each MEF meeting normally features a case
presentation/panel discussion that spotlights a single company in a
critical stage of development. MEF membership is $60 per year and
additional information is available online at
www.gss.net/mef, by calling 312-857-0301 or by
writing MEF, 8 South Michigan Avenue, Suite 1000, Chicago, IL 60603.

ALSO . . . . . . .

Come join us on October 28, 2003 for our Wheaton Meeting. Presenter will
be announced at a later date.
_____________________
2b. Thurs., Oct. 16: WITI Chicago: Beyond Technical Competence
From: “Yvonne F Brown”
To:
Subject: Women In Technology International meeting at CNA
Date: Wed, 8 Oct 2003 08:51:03 -0500

Hi Ron,

It was good to see you at the I.C. Stars Carnivale. Glad you’re on the
mend.
Please post the item below. Women In Technology International Chicago
Chapter
appreciates it.
———————————-
WITI Chicago – Regional Chapter Event
Thursday, October 16, 2003
5:30pm – 8:30pm

Event Date and Venue

This event will be held from 5:30pm – 8:30pm on Thursday, October 16, 2003
at:
CNA Insurance Company
333 S. Wabash – Conference Rooms 209N &210N (Second Floor)
Chicago, Illinois 60685

Schedule

5:30 p.m. ­ Registration, Networking and Refreshment

6:30 p.m. ­ Presentation begins

8:00 p.m. ­ Meeting adjourns
—————
Topic: Beyond Technical Competence

You know your craft and are excellent at the technical aspects of your
career. But is that enough? What else do you need to do, be or have in order
to excel?

Join Sheri Mathis, Business Productivity Adv, Microsoft Corporation and
Yvonne Brown, President of Ball Of Gold Corporation as they share with you
how to reach beyond technical competence through the value of the
collaborative enterprise.

CNA will have a list of open positions available for you at the WITI
registration desk on the night of the meeting.

About Our Speakers:

Microsoft -Sheri Mathis
Sheri Mathis highlights to Information Workers and businesses throughout the
Midwest the importance of productivity tools as critical to ongoing business
success.

In her eight years at Microsoft, Sheri has held multiple positions. She was
a Partner Program Manager responsible for the development of Microsoft
business partners and she was a Technology Specialist and consultant where
she primarily focused on explaining, demonstrating and implementing
Microsoft solutions to Fortune 100 accounts, such as Motorola, State Farm
Insurance and Caterpillar.

Sheri has a Bachelors degree from the University of Illinois-Chicago, is a
member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, a volunteer with South Suburban PADS
(shelter for the homeless) and a board member of the Corporate Advisory
Board for BDPA-Chicago.

Yvonne Brown:
Ms Yvonne F. Brown, author of ?Self Creation: 10 Powerful Principles For
Changing Your Life? is President of Ball of Gold Corporation a training and
consulting firm. She has managed major business initiatives with diverse
teams within the U.S. and foreign countries, including Italy, England, India
and the Philippines. Yvonne has appeared on radio and television programs
and writes career columns for several magazines.

Ms. Brown co-chaired the MBA/University Task Force for the Chicagoland
Chamber of Commerce, is on the advisory board of the Women?s Leadership
Exchange, and is a board member of numerous community and private
corporations. She is an adjunct professor at the University of
Illinois-Chicago and was featured in an interview in Black Enterprise
magazine. She was inducted into the IT Professionals Hall of Fame by
Positive Image News and is listed in The International Who?s Who Historical
Society for Professionals.

The ?Jamaican American Dreamer?? says: ?My mission is to Awaken Dreams and
Inspire Self Creation.? An internationally recognized trainer, speaker,
author and coach, Yvonne helps people to break through self-limiting beliefs
and create a future that they design. She received her degree from DePaul
University with honors.

CNA -Wendy Landenberger:
Wendy was recently appointed the role of Business Segment Partner in CNA IT
partnering with the Finance and Actuarial business units to enable the
achievement of their strategies and operating plans through the use of
technology. Prior to this, Wendy held the position of Vice President of
Delivery Services within CNA IT. She spent two years in this position
creating and maturing the Project Management Office and the framework for
how IT solutions are delivered. Her philosophy is to partner with the
business and focus on delivering the highest possible business value for the
enterprise.

Wendy has 16 years of experience in IT with 12 of those years focused on
project and program management. She has worked in both the Telecom and
Financial Services industry. Wendy holds a Bachelors of Business
Administration degree in Management Information Systems from the University
of Wisconsin ­ Eau Claire.

About Our Sponsor:
CNA is a leading global insurance organization serving businesses and
individuals with a broad range of insurance products and insurance-related
services. Since 1897, CNA has built on a foundation of financial strength,
stability and commitment to customers and business partners.

CNA will have a list of open positions available for you at the WITI
registration desk on the night of the meeting.

Pre-Registration
Pre-Registration fees are as follows:

$25.00 for WITI members
$40.00 for non-members
Refund Policy: Please check your calendars carefully, as we will be unable
to issue refunds. If you are unable to attend, we encourage you to find a
substitute to take your place. If you do wish to substitute, please email
suzana@corp.witi.com.

Please plan to pay in advance. We accept checks and credit cards.

Pre-Registration Deadline:
All registrations must be received by Thursday, October 16, 2003

For More Information regarding on-site registration or event details,
contact Jennifer Tiller (jtiller@ameritech.net).
regarding pre-registration, contact Suzana Rocha (suzana@corp.witi.com).

Regards,
Yvonne F. Brown
Executive Director
Women In Technology International
www.witi.com/Chicago
Phone – 312-893-7527
direct- 312-953-2126
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END OF REPORT.