October 17, 2003

The May Report: 10/17/2003: CNA sued CSC on outsourcing contract, it turns out;
Barry Loshin lands job with Wilhelm and Conlon after InTV closes down; Ed
Condon chosen to head Treasurer’s $60MM fund of fund initiative; more tidbits
from three events Thursday

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

The Scoop section:

— John Katsantonis: PAINT IT, BLACK
— Briefly noted, by Ron May

1. READER COMMENTS AND RESPONSES
1a. Jeff Willinger: eBay evangelist
1b. Dave Putnam: has product to protect against identity theft
1c. Tim Mears: Cubs comments
1d. Tim Knoll: India vs. China
1e. Robin Cook: Monday Morning Meeting

2. COMPANIES AND ORGANIZATIONS
2a. iNest Realty Passes $1 Billion in New Home Sales
2b. Siemens Building Technologies selects Movéo as Creative Agency Partner
___________________
The Scoop section:
________
John Katsantonis: PAINT IT, BLACK

Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2003 13:55:04 -0500
To: (Recipient list suppressed)
From: “John P. Katsantonis”
Subject: PAINT IT, BLACK

It was palpable. It was certain. There was no point in playing Game 7.

In the minds —- the Souls —- of all Chicagoans, we knew that we knew that
we knew it was over. The moment after a poor Yutz named Steve Bartman blocked a
left-field fly ball seemingly meant for the glove of Moises Alou, we all knew
that it was over.

Mind you, many other teams and their fans, perhaps even MOST others, would have
shrugged it off and not blown the certain double-play that occurred next.

But the moment it happened, as soon as The Fan Named Bartman made his ill-fated
move, there was no doubt about the fact that the Chicago Cubs’ magical drive
for the National League pennant, and a World Series with the Boston Red Sox,
were over.

And, while it is thoroughly preposterous, totally absurd, and beyond ridiculous
to even begin to compare the two events, the feeling throughout this city
yesterday —- the day after Game 6 —- could only be compared, emotionally,
to the days following 9/11.

Now there are really only two things that can happen: first, poor Bartman has
to leave the city, change his name, and hope that he can pick up the pieces,
the hopes, and the dreams of his life —- never mind those he shattered —-
elsewhere. Maybe Florida.

Second, and more importantly, something must be done with what can now only be
called The Seat Of Shame…….for starters, someone from the Wrigley Field
maintenance staff has to paint it. Black. Next, the Chicago Police Department
must cordon off The Seat Of Shame from the rest of the world, perhaps using
standard-issue yellow-and-black Crime Scene tape.

From there, the following steps must be taken:

A) The Catholic Archidiocese of Chicago needs to contact the Vatican, to assign
an Exorcist, or at least a Demonologist, to investigate whether or not The Seat
Of Shame is, in reality, the Gateway to Hell. Or a portal through which the
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse will burst, as they ride across the skies,
heralding The End Time. (In all candor, I would have expected them more if the
Cubs had actually WON Game 7.)

B) Failing that, experts from the Adler Planetarium and the Fermi Lab at the
University of Chicago must determine if, perhaps, The Seat Of Shame is actually
a portal to other dimensions, as described in the classic “Twilight Zone”
episode —- the one in which a little girl travels, after crawling behind a
bookcase in her parents’ living room —- and parodized by “The Simpsons.”
(After all, the “Bartman” connection cannot be ignored, as in the
“Nana-nana-nana-nana, Bart-Man” theme, as sung by the eldest Simpson sibling.)

C) Once it is determined that The Seat Of Shame embodies no spiritual,
supernatural, or extra-terrestrial threat it should be retired, just as Ron
Santo’s number 10 recently was. No one should be allowed to sit in it for a
specified period of mourning. Say, until the next time the Cubs are in the
final playoffs for the National League pennant.

At that time, The Seat Of Shame should be sold only to unobservant clods with
too much money and a few beers too many in them (rather than REAL Cubs fans,
who know enough to 1) not interfere with a ball that’s in play, and 2) bring
their BASEBALL GLOVE to a game when they feel like catching a souvenir ball)
for a minimum of $1,000.00 a pop.

And then, the money should be donated to one of the Cubs or Tribune charities,
on an rotating basis. Or maybe the Hadley School for the Blind.

thanks~jk
___________________
Ron May here. This was so well written, whatever you may think of John’s point,
that I had to throw it in the scoop section.
___________________
Briefly noted, by Ron May

* I attended three events Thursday: the BMA luncheon with Jordan Glazier (with
his wife, mother and mother-in-law) and Jay Fiore of eBay and their
eBaybusiness.com marketing operation. I had planned to stay for only twenty
minutes, but ended up being the last to leave since I found it so engrossing.

This is not an apology for anything that has appeared in this report about Gary
Slack and Slack Barshinger, but fairness and intellectual honesty require that
I report that on at least a half dozen occasions, Jay Fiore praised the work of
Gary and his firm and even specifically pointed out some of their
contributions.

The two eBay talks were fascinating and while there I also picked up some good
info. on a company that presented to the ARCH/Coalition MMM in July, but I
never wrote the presentation up. This time I will. The company is
ChannelVelocity and is run by Wes Sheperd who used to have RealComedy, a
business he readily admits was a failure, but a lot of fun. ChannelVelocity is
doing about $2MM in sales and revenue combined with a gross profit of 30-35%.
Wes explained the fairly complex and often misunderstood business to me so it
is important that I write it soon. His firm is now using the offices of the
Evanston ITEC and just to give you an idea of how connections work in this
town, Tom Churchwell has helped Wes, he says, and referred him to Gary Slack.
Wes is a using eBay as a business channel partner. His business involves two
components: the processing and sorting of returned electronic items like MP-3
players from places like Best Buy and the refurbishing and resale of equipment.
For the standard processing, ChannelVelocity is paid a per item fee, but for
resale, the firm makes money on the sale of the item on consignment. Wes uses
the retailers but his relationship is with the manufacturers.

Speaking of Churchwell, since I have been inquiring about his fund and its
actual size, David Wilhelm (whom I talked to at the second meeting I attended)
was under the impression that Tom has raised $20MM, not $30MM, but readily
admits that he could have out of date info. (Hey, what’s $10MM between friends,
anyway? I have been hearing enough through the gravevine that I sense there is
more going on with Tom’s investors than we know.)

Another person I talked to was Phil Clement who tells me that his firm, The
Clement Group, is doing well and that the five or six employees are housed in
the offices of Howard Solomon and Ruder Finn. Phil also mentioned that Jeff
Schultz, who left Divine about six months ago, is working for a firm that does
verification of identities, so you know that Flip Filipowski is the same person
as Andrew J. Filipowski or A. J. Filipowski, etc. You get the idea.

I also got the issue of that $25,000 marketing campaign cleared up with Jay
Fiore. It turns out that he was jokingly answering a question posed to him by
the reporter from AdAge (I believe) and that the contest they are holding is
for $25,000 for the first prize and there are also five prizes of $5K each also
being given out (all in early November), but the amount of money being spent on
marketing, advertising and PR for eBay’s promotion of its business sector far
exceeds that amount. I owe an apology to Gary Slack for having implied that he
was lying about how much business he got from eBay. Yes, I did just write that.
Don’t you think it is time to bury the hatchet? I know that there are a lot of
former Slack employees who seek “revenge” but the guy deserves a chance. That
is not to say that there are not legitimate criticisms of his management style
or his tendency to self-promote, but as Michele White noted to me yesterday,
Gary is an entrepreneur and he turned the BMA around. His people/management
skills are no more or less than many entrepreneurs. She also made the case that
the people who had a problem with the way the Tower Awards were handled should
have and could have gone to the membership directly, rather than having the
thing aired in The May Report.

Next, I went to the ITAA seminar on the government (state, local and federal)
and IT. I saw the last panel and David Wilhelm’s talk. Lots of good stuff
there. Barry Loshin was just hired by Wilhelm & Conlon to work as an account
exec. in the public sector practice. Barry tells me that he left InTV in June
since there was no money to pay him and since then the company has shut down. I
did not know this and Barry, Fritz and Scoop Simon have been awfully hush hush
about it considering how highly visible they were. In fact when was the last
time anyone saw Fritz? Barry told me that the last project they worked on was
for Boeing, something to do with financials and they partnered with AudioCast
on that.

David Wilhelm says that Barry will be working on technology sector issues but
will not be restricted to that and can also do healthcare.

I also found out from David and Tom Parkinson (who showed up at the tail end to
hear David’s concluding remarks) that Judy Barr Topinka and the state
Treasurer’s office have hired the first person to run that $60MM venture fund,
and it turns out to be Ed Condon. Ed has been tilling the fund of fund soil for
a long time and a few years back, Tom Thornton was telling me how good of a guy
he was and how various unnamed people were plotting against him vis-a-vis the
Mayor’s Technology Advisory Council. Well, Ed is in what appears to be the
driver’s seat now. As I understand it, the person in Ed’s job will establish
standards and procedures that will be used to invest the $60MM in venture
funds.

Ed was just hired in the last two weeks. On the subject of the Venture
Opportunity Fund, Wilhelm and Parkinson made the case for tightening the noose
on the VCs and investing in Illinois. If it is not a formal requirement built
into statute, at least it can be a review process which examines the track
records of the chosen VC firms with respect to investing in the state. Both
David and Tom seemed to feel that it is time for such an approach. David is
hopeful that the fund will become a higher priority in the next legislative
session.

The third meeting I attended was WITI which was held at CNA. We were treated to
a “sneak peek” at Microsoft Office System and the 2003 suite of office
products. Wendy Landenberger of CNA also discussed the IT direction at CNA
which she says underwent a major transformation two and a half years ago with
the bringing on of CIO John Golden who is a direct report to the CEO of CNA.

Wendy promised me some more detail on this number but the plan is for CNA to
spend $82MM in 2004 on development projects that will result in additional
value of $413MM in seven years. That will be a combination of cost savings and
revenue generating projects. Overall, the CNA annual IT budget is a staggering
$420MM. Wendy said that they do use off-shore services for what she called
“sunset systems” that are not mission critical, but she also stated that in a
move away from the past, CNA now has less than 10% consultants in IT and is
relying on its own people to do the job. Prior to the transformation, the
company was doing mostly maintenance and minor enhancements, but now IT is
trying to be a strategic asset rather than just playing a utility role. (If I
had a dollar for every time I have heard that line…)

At the very end of the evening, I was talking to a woman who has been looking
for a job in IT service sales whose last job was with CapGemini and Ernst &
Young. I was telling her about the CSC mess at Motorola and she told me that
she had been quite surprised to hear that Motorola would have outsourced such a
large operation to CSC. Then she dropped the bombshell. Apparently, my friends,
there is some history here. About six years ago, CNA outsourced to CSC and CNA
ended up suing CSC to get its contract and employees back. Does anyone recall
what happened there? I am more than a little curious.

I have lots more great stuff from Thursday, but I thought I would get something
out and get some sleep. One thing I learned at the ITAA seminar is what states
are doing innovative things in the e-government field and other IT innovation.
As Harris Miller, the president of the ITAA, explained to me, the most
innovative solutions are revenue sharing partnerships where the states give up
some money to the vendor that develops the revenue generating system. An
example is in the state of Wisconsin where an IT firm has developed a system to
get the state $100MM in medicare payments from the feds. Two other highly
innovative states are Virginia and Connecticut.

Tom Parkinson and David Wilhelm were riding high yesterday because they were
mentioned in a New York Times article yesterday on venture funds geared to
helping communities. One of their investments, butterfly.net, has received $7MM
recently in venture money and is staying in West Virginia in contravention of
the conventional wisdom.

* A reader sent a note that she did not want published, but it pointed out that
the INC 500 is out and at least one Chicago firm is on the list: The RoundTable
Group run by Russ Rosensweig.

* That Motorola story is getting more interesting — and tense — every day.
Our guy has been suspended by CSC and awaits dismissal. I assure you that we
have not heard the last of this. By the way, the subscribe requests keep
pouring in. The last three days have been far in excess of the average. I will
have to give you a count on Monday.
_________________
1. READER COMMENTS AND RESPONSES
1a. Jeff Willinger: eBay evangelist
From: “Jeff Willinger”
To:
Subject: ebay
Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2003 10:48:31 -0500

Hi Ron! I have been a self-proclaimed EBAY junkie for about 4 years now,
with over 600 positive transactions, i have become a pro of sorts…i have
seen it all, including deception and fraud which EBAY does an excellent job
in monitoring and closing accounts…recently there was a seller, *vicious*
who was selling non existant OLD NAVY gift cards and got away with over
$3500.00 in cashiers checks and money orders before he was caught…i have a
small aggregating EBAY business, where i take people’s old or new stuff,
such as COACH and designer authentic handbags, men’s designer suits, shoes
and athletic shoes, old eyeglasses and sunglasses, sports memorabilia among
other items; list the item and ship it for a percentage 25%-50%…all they
do is sit back and wait for checks to arrive in their mailbox…i can
provide advise and consultation to whoever asks…keep up the good work!

Jeffrey S. Willinger
Graphic Packaging/Arrow Gold
648 West Randolph Street ste 300
Chicago, IL 60661
ph: 312.441.1900
fx: 312.441.1904
cl: 312.316.1900
jw@graphpack.com
www.graphpack.com
____________________
1b. Dave Putnam: has product to protect against identity theft
Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2003 18:38:38 -0500
To: Ron May
From: Dave Putnam
Subject: Re: Stolen Ebay seller identity hits local event organizer

Hi Ron,

I am a long time subscriber to your newsletter.

In fact I am a paid subscriber.

I have met you several times when you would
attend the meetings of the Pick Users Group
(I worked for Pick Systems for many years).

I have followed your newsletter and your
personal “Trials and Tribulations”. I have
always thought about what your were going
through and in my heart and mind have wished
you the best.

This email was triggered by your piece on the
Ebay seller who had his identity stolen.

I am associated with a company that provides
protection against Identity Theft. We provide
this protection as part of a complete legal
protection package or as a stand alone product.

I am interested in discussing how I can get
this information to your readers. I am not
looking for a freebie.

Best of luck with your newsletter and your
health challenges.

Dave Putnam
630-515-0699
********************************
Do You Need Legal Help?
Individual, Company and Employee Plans
Ask Me About The New Identity Theft Shield
www.DoYouNeedLegalHelp.com
__________________
1c. Tim Mears: Cubs comments
From: “Tim Mears”
To: ron@themayreport.com
Subject: Cubs comments
Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2003 12:53:53 +0000

Feel free to use my info.

Ron,
A little education about baseball. The Cubs can claim that they are the best
team in the Central division and better than Atlanta. They won the Central
division and they beat Atlanta in a 5 game playoff(Thank goodness it wasn’t a 7
game playoff). The claim that they are one of the 4 best teams in baseball is
not valid. You can’t compare teams records in different divisions of baseball
by record alone to determine who is better. They don’t play the same schedule.
This is why baseball has playoffs.
Instead of making these types of incorrect rationalizations to validate the
Cubs season be happy with the fact that the Cubs had an exciting, winning
season in which they showed a lot of promise. After a few seasons of getting
close this won’t be good enough for the true Cub baseball fans. I am just glad
the Cubs fans are past the stage of it being enough for Sammy to hit a home run
and the outcome of the game didn’t matter.

Tim
___________________
1d. Tim Knoll: India vs. China
From: “Tim Knoll”
To:
Subject: India vs China
Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2003 07:13:50 -0500

Ron -

The question of wages higher in India vs China is a complex one.

It is like asking are wages in Europe or North America higher.

Are you asking about Tennessee or San Jose? Services or manufacturing?

China, for instance, has areas with higher wages along the coast , particularly
across from Hong Kong, as well as other areas.
Inland, wages are lower. This is in part due to the higher costs of
transportation for shipping goods and in part due to the fact
that infrastructure is more developed along the coast. While the coastal
versus inland geography is a generality with exceptions,
the concept is true.

India, generally, has lower levels of infrastructure for manufacturing,
although there is still manufacturing that is done in India.
BPO or business process outsourcing is very strong in India. Services like
call centers, medical transcription, software development,
engineering and accounting processes have blossomed in India, primarily but not
exclusively in some major cities in the south, including
Hyderabad, Chennai, and Bangalore.

The important idea that often gets lost in the discussion is that rising middle
classes in these countries are a huge market for American
products and especially services. It is not just a threat to American jobs, it
is also an opportunity.

Tim Knoll
EC Group International

tknoll@ecgroup-intl.com
_______________
1e. Robin Cook: Monday Morning Meeting
Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2003 10:29:09 -0500
From: Robin Cook
Subject: Mon. AM Meeting
To: ron@themayreport.com

Hi, Ron:

It was good to see you up and about & looking much better on Monday morning.

That said, is your hearing getting as bad as mine? I very clearly said (&
always have) that I’m unemployed. Denial accomplishes nothing!

Shalom,

Robin
______________________
2. COMPANIES AND ORGANIZATIONS
2a. iNest Realty Passes $1 Billion in New Home Sales
From: “Randy Pickard”
To:
Subject: iNest Press Release – $1 Billion in New Home Sales
Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2003 10:21:26 -0500

iNest Realty Passes $1 Billion in New Home Sales

Company Press Release
Chicago
October 16, 2003

iNest Realty (www.iNest.com), the leading real estate broker specializing in
newly constructed homes, reported that the firm has surpassed $1 billion in
new homes sold since the launch of the service in 1997.

“Reaching $1 billion in property sold is a testament to our absolute focus
on providing unsurpassed value to both builders and buyers of newly
constructed homes,” said Andy Wolf, iNest founder and CEO. “We are thrilled
to have assisted our Featured Builders by generating this level of sales
volume for them.” On the consumer side, “iNest continues our relentless
effort to provide buyers with all the tools and information they need to
find the very best home for them, while also saving them money in the
process,” said Randy Pickard, Vice President of Marketing.

iNest has assisted buyers in home searches that have led to sales contracts
totaling over $1 billion, saving homebuyers more than $10 million in the
process. iNest brings homebuyers and builders together by providing a unique
directory of builders and new home communities in 18 top home building
states. iNest has created over 450 micro-sites for the builders featured on
its website. These micro-sites provide information on over 7,200 new home
communities, allowing homebuyers to search for new home communities and view
information about home styles and floor plans prior to visiting builder
sales offices.

Consumers who purchase a home from one of the company’s 450 featured
builders using iNest’s cash-back coupons receive a 1 percent rebate on the
base price of the home shortly after escrow closes. iNest’s service is
currently available in 85% of the top home building markets. (View map at
www.internest.com/xyz/newhomesstart.asp)

About iNest
iNest, based in Chicago’s western suburbs, is the pioneering real estate
broker specializing in providing consumers with unsurpassed value throughout
their search for and purchase of newly constructed homes. iNest provides
this value to consumers by combining information resources available on its
site about its partner homebuilders, its network of field agents, its
experienced New Home Specialists that are available 7 days a week, and a 1%
rebate to consumers who utilize the iNest website and patent-pending program
when making their new home purchase.

For more information on iNest and its cash back program for new homebuyers,
visit www.iNest.com.

Contact:
Randy Pickard
iNest
rpickard@inest.com
630-529-7500 x 554
____________________
2b. Siemens Building Technologies selects Movéo as Creative Agency Partner
Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2003 10:54:51 -0500
Subject:
From: Doug Davila To: The May Report

Ron–it was good speaking with you today.

Take Care,

Doug Davila

SIEMENS BUILDING TECHNOLOGIES SELECTS MOVÉO AS CREATIVE AGENCY PARTNER

OAKROOK TERRACE, ILLINOIS, ­ Movéo Integrated Branding, a full-service
business-to-business marketing firm, today announced that Siemens Building
Technologies (SBT), Inc., has named the agency as its North
American-creative agency partner. Movéo is working with SBT across the full
spectrum of marketing communications activities, including research,
strategy, execution and measurement.

SBT is focused on complete building technology solutions that enable its
customers to create from a single, source environments that are safe,
secure, comfortable and energy efficient. Offerings include products,
systems and services for building automation, fire safety, HVAC control, and
security.

” We provide building technology solutions to more than 20,000 North
American locations, across multiple markets and industries,” said Mike
Ruggeri, Director of Corporate Communications, SBT. “We chose Movéo to help
us develop a consistent, integrated marketing communications strategy that
can be applied across the diverse businesses and markets of our company.

Siemens Building Technologies Selects Movéo as Creative Agency Partner

“We are very pleased that SBT chose Movéo. We were one of several agencies
considered and we believe our combination of creative vision, our strategic
and integrated approach to marketing, as well as our collaborative processes
and tools, made us the right choice for SBT,” said Robert Murphy, a Partner
at Moveo and head of Account Services. “We believe in a fact-based approach
that validates assumptions and helps to build a marketing campaign that
parallels and reinforces the customer experience.”

About Movéo Integrated Branding
Moveo works with a diverse group of clients in business, services and
healthcare
fields, including Motorola, SBC, Siemens, US Robotics, Resurrection
Healthcare
and St. James Hospital & Health Centers. The agency¹s integrated services ­
market dynamics, brand strategy and brand communications ­ help brand owners
align their brands with their overall business strategy to produce
bottom-line results.

About Siemens Building Technologies
Headquartered in Buffalo Grove, IL, Siemens Building Technologies, Inc. is
one of 14 Siemens operating companies in the United States and is a leading
single-source provider of cost-effective facility performance solutions for
the comfort, life safety, and security of some of the most technically
advanced buildings in the world. In North America, SBT employs 8,500 people
and provides local service from more than 100 locations coast-to-coast.
_____________
John Douglas Davila
Senior Opportunity Manager
Moveo Integrated Branding
630.570.4809
www.moveo.com

Moveo–Get There
____________________
The May Report Ron May: editor, reporter, commentator,
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_________________
END OF REPORT.