It was a typically beautiful September day in Yuma, Arizona. The sun was shining, as it does 300 days of the year. (Side note: why in the world is Yuma, AZ not the the solar energy capital of the world?!?)

Captured in the photo below is Yuma’s own: Bill “Willie” Moody receiving his FOCM Membership card. Yes, he received it in September, but one of the foundations of FOCM is patience. His patience was being tested and he has passed. He is now entitled to all the benefits therein. (As a dues paying member, he would have even more benefits, come on Bill, it’s only $20, well he did pay for my lunch so that kinda counts, well he also paid for my brother’s lunch, so that kinda counts.  Turns out my brother has developed quite the skill of having others pay for his lunch.) Bill owns and runs Robert J. Moody Appraisers, doing real estate appraisal services.  I have known Bill for probably 45 years.  We first met at First Presbyterian Church Sunday School in Yuma, AZ.

This event took place at Burgers and Beer located at: 321 W 20th St, Yuma, AZ. Many members of the A.T. Pancrazi Real Estate Services Company were witnesses to the ceremony. A.T. Pancrazi Real Estate is the premier commercial real estate firm serving Yuma, Arizona and the desert southwest.

The previous post in “networking” was submitted by Bill Dupere.  Bill and I first met in 1987 when we worked together at BurroughsWellcome Co. in RTP, NC.  Here’s a picture of the two of us from June 2014 on our way out to breakfast.  The satchel he is carrying is actually a Left Ventricular Assist Device, which takes over some of the functioning of his weakened heart, caused by a heart attack.  Modern medicine is truly amazing.

We all know the degrees of separation phrase: 6 degrees of separation as described in Wikipedia as:
Six degrees of separation is the theory that everyone and everything is six or fewer steps away, by way of introduction, from any other person in the world, so that a chain of “a friend of a friend” statements can be made to connect any two people in a maximum of six steps. It was originally set out by Frigyes Karinthy in 1929 and popularized by a 1990 play written by John Guare.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_degrees_of_separation

In the pharmaceutical clinical research industry where I have spent the past 19 years, I think we’re all 2 degrees from each other.  The example below, if I’m counting correctly, is an example of a 4, maybe 5,  degrees of separation.  My friend, Bill Dupere recounted this story to me several months ago:

Two and half years ago Bill hired Heather Elser, PhD.  She later started dating, and then got married to Jason Smith, DVD in February 2014.  In late spring, Jason’s boss, Wally Diehl, retired from his veterinarian practice.  Wally sold the practice to a veterinary “roll-up” practice management company, VCA and Jason took over day-to-management of the practice.  Wally then turned around and contracted with VCA, Jason Smith, for part time veterinary services.

Wally moved to the coast, Surf City, NC where he has other business interests at the coast including, boat dock rentals and boat rentals.

Meanwhile, Bill suffered a heart attack and is unable to resume his responsibilities as COO with QOL Medical.  Dr. Heather Elser, who used to report to Bill assumes day-today responsibilities for Clinical Operations at QOL Medical.  Bill now supports Heather in these duties—in effect Bill now reports to Heather for certain projects.

Bill and his wife Elizabeth (Liz), own a waterfront townhome at the coast in Surf City, NC.  Bill’s neighbor, Greg Isenhour, is a serial entrepreneur and serves as General Contractor for the townhome development in which Bill and Liz’s own a townhome.  Greg is also into property management.  One of the properties that Greg manages is the building where Liz works at Builder’s Mutual Insurance Company (BMIC).  Greg also used to serve on the Board at BMIC.

So in effect, the Dupere’s live next door to the person who helped start Liz’s company, and who both serves as GC and property manager.  Greg does a great job tending to and looking after the properties he is responsible for.

Greg is in also business with Wally (retired veterinarian, see above) who is a principal in Topsail Island Boat rentals.  Greg leases Topsail Island Boat Rental boat slips in the Dupere’s townhome waterfront community, which is to the right side of their townhome complex and the boat storage facility is immediately adjacent on the left side of the townhome community.

One day, while Wally is walking down the dock, Bill and Liz are upstairs on the 4^th floor of their townhome on the deck overlooking the sound.

Bill yells down:  “Do you know Dr. Jason Smith?”
Wally stops dead in his tracks, chuckles, and says, “Do I know Jason Smith (in a rhetorical fashion and tone).  Of course, he is now my boss.”

Bill chuckles and yells down a second time, “Do you know Dr. Heather Elser?” to which Wally answers, “…of course, why do you ask.”
Bill replies, “she is now my boss”

Dan Schmitt, John Ketchum and I used to work together at Burroughs Wellcome Co.  In June 2014, we managed to get together for a dinner while John and I were attending ASCO at the McCormick Convention Center.  We had a great time, lots of laughs, re-telling old stories and creating new ones.  We haven’t changed a bit.  We did put in some gray hair coloring so those of you who used to work with us wouldn’t feel so bad, except Dan forgot to do so.

Good writing adds value. In clinical research, well-written proposal content demonstrates expertise, strengthens ties to the client and distinguishes the organization from competitors.

A proud, card-carrying member of FOCM with 16 years of clinical research industry experience is looking for new opportunities to write for clinical research service providers (CROs, technology vendors, SMOs, etc.).

Comprehensive writing experience includes: Proposals, articles, marketing, press releases, SOPs and RFIs.  Significant expertise building teams to create focused, relevant content.

To connect this individual whose talents I strongly endorse, contact FOCM leader at chris@focmnetworking.com

 

In early July 2014, while I was in San Francisco on a business and personal trip, a FOCM event was held at TasteVin Wine and Cheese in San Carlos, CA.  The owner of TasteVin is long-time FOCM member Sue Simpson.  Attending the event were: my daughter, Amy and Claudia Kunzler.  Amy was living in the area at the time and we had gone to a San Francisco Giants baseball game and as you can see, I did not put on sunscreen.

Julie Hammack received her FOCM card that night.  Julie’s excitement at this surprise induction is quite evident in the first picture.  The photo was snapped just as she was informed that she would be receiving her card that very night.

When you think about “networking”, you usually think of social or business.  This is an example of a company’s network being used to help the family of one of their employees.

One of the amazing things about this story is how rapidly people responded to this family devastated by a house fire.

The first email below was sent out by the owner of Flora Landscapes, a landscaping company we’ve used since we moved to Wilmington, NC in 2010. It tells about a house fire at the home of one of their employees that occurred on 2/18. The email was sent to Flora Landscapes’ customers. The email below that of 2/19 shows the response of people rallying to help and the email after that of 2/21 shows the amazingly fast and generous response of people helping others in need.

Feb 18, 2015
Good Morning,

I write to you all this morning in response to a Flora Landscapes family tragedy. One of our employees, experienced a house fire yesterday morning that has left his family destitute. It occurred at 4:30 in the morning, and amazingly he, his wife, and their 3 children survived but are left with nothing but their car. They were in their pajamas and ran out of the house into ice and rain. It was a total loss.

The family is completely devastated and still in shock, but they are grateful to still have one another. The firefighters were amazed to see that they had made it out alive. So while they are trying to gather their lives, I look to you all to see how we can come together to support them during this extremely difficult time.

I will be collecting clothing and household items at our office. The clothing sizes are as follows:

Boy, Age Six, Size Six, Shoe Size 13
Girl, Age 8, Six 8, Shoe Size 12
Girls, Age 10, Size 10, Shoe Size 13
Mother, Size 12-14, Shoe Size 9
Father, Size Large, Pants 38×30, Shoe Size 9.

Winter clothing will be extremely helpful. They literally have no clothing other than what they were wearing.

In addition, they will also need linens, kitchen supplies, bathroom supplies, toys, cleaning supplies, and small appliances. We will accept all these things at the Flora Office.

For those of you who wish to donate money, please use the following link (link removed).

Thank you so much for being such an incredible group of friends to our business and our employees. I have seen how powerful we can be when we all come together, and it is a lovely phenomenon to behold.

I will keep you all posted of the family’s fight to overcome this hardship.

With Sincere Gratitude,

Flora Landscapes

Feb 19, 2015
Good Afternoon,

First of all… You All Are Amazing! I want you to know that in less than 30 hours, we have collectively furnished their next home and filled their kitchen, their bedrooms, bathrooms, living room, and clothed them.

They are astonished at the overwhelming kindnesses. They came in today and their children were DELIGHTED!!! You would have thought it was Christmas and at that point we really didn’t even have much for the kids. That is no longer the case…

I am asking that we put a hold on any more donation items for the time being so that we can make some time to go through everything.

But as the monetary donations are going to securing a new home for the family, please keep them coming! Every little bit goes a long way. For those of you who wish to donate money, please use the following link (link removed)

I am just so happy to see everyone come together in this way. You all give me a hope in humanity and pride in my community. Thank you all so much.

Deepest and Most Sincere Thanks,

Flora Landscapes

Feb 21, 2015
Good Morning!,

I am thrilled to report that in less than 72 hours, you all have helped the family generate enough funds to purchase a 3 bedroom mobile home, enough furniture to fill that home, a household of supplies, and clothing for the entire family. While the family is still in limbo waiting for documents to finalize, and they are still extremely shaken by everything that has occurred, but they are going to be just fine.

Thank you so so much for everything. There may be some thises and thats that come up once they are in, and I will certainly keep you all posted, but the outpouring of love, support and generosity has been overwhelming.

I have had 3 family members lose their homes to either fire or hurricane. I have seen the power of the kindness of others and sheer selflessness of spirit, but nothing could have prepared me for the incredible response we have received. I am truly humbled. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart.,

With Deepest Gratitude and Love,

Flora Landscapes

this post has been submitted by FOCM Member Mike Burrows.

Looking for Pharma Manufacturing Market Research Participants:

Any FOCM members with manufacturing experience of bulk solids and powder processing who would be interested in participating in market research about Rotary Valves, Pipe Selector Valves, etc. please contact Mike Burrows at m.burrows@earthlink.net.  He will put you in contact with the Market Research Firm.

There were a few FOCM membership card ceremonies at the Drug Information Association (DIA) Annual meeting in June 2014 in San Diego.  Spotted in the photos below are:

Lance Nickens of The Patient Recruitment Agency, Ashley Parish from Covance, Carter Vincent from World Wide Clinical Trials, a team of Oracle attendees inducted into FOCM via Chris Dapolite; they are from left to right (not yet identified, Rashmi Goel, Catherine Ginzer and Kristin Forrest).  Former coworkers of mine from my time at Quintiles were able to catch up with each other: Steve MacDonald of Omnicomm and Brian Langin (we’re co-workers again) of YPrime.

FOCM Member shared this info on LinkedIn. Peter Newfield, the President of Career-Resumes.com and a writer/blogger on this topic wrote a very good article, see the link at the bottom of this post.

A copy of his first two paragraphs are below.

Let’s get right to the point — Yes, you really do need a resume and it better be a good one. A resume is the career version of the “Get Out of Jail” card in a Monopoly game. If you don’t have one, you may be doomed to sit in that same go nowhere job while your friends and co-workers merrily skip past you to new opportunities and brighter futures.

Too simplistic? Not really. Without a resume, companies have no idea that you exist. You may be a whiz on the computer, the best salesman who ever lived, or a dynamite CEO, but without a professional resume highlighting your accomplishments and achievements, you may as well be invisible!

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/20141208154939-1242130-do-you-really-need-a-resume-by-peter-newfield?trk=object-title