We had a good turnout on February 19, 2014 at Trali in Brierdale Shopping center. Trali is an Irish pub with several RTP area locations. John Clark, Nick Macaulay, Mike Markowitz, Jeremy Zickus, Sherran Brewer and I know I am forgetting some people who were there. I know Alison Taber, nor Tricia Bland didn’t make it because they were either getting their hair or their nails done. That is an excuse that is only allowed once per FOCM year.

Invoices for membership may be sent out at the discretion of the organization founder.

On February 18, a few of the RTP Chapter of FOCM members gathered at the Page Road Grill in Durham to welcome May Singh to town. May was in town for a conference and it as he likes to do, Chris (that’s me) organized a dinner for May to meet fellow FOCM-ians. We were joined that night by Gayle Grandinetti and Mike Burrows.

January 29, 2014, while in town for the Outsourcing in Clinical Trials, Claudia Kunzler, Debbie McCoy and I had dinner in San Mateo at KingFish. We all ordered the special, whatever it was, I no longer remember, we had such a good time talking and laughing. While none of us are at ICON any longer, the friendships formed from that long working relationship are treasured, indeed.

Here I am networking with Marilyn Monroe:

Wow, am I ever behind on publishing the meeting minutes.

On January 30, 2013 Claudia Kunzler, FOCM Member in good standing for several years, Johnny Murphy, newly inducted member, and I had dinner at TasteVin Wine and Cheese in San Carlos, CA. The owner is FOCM member in good standing of several years, Sue Simpson. You will notice that TasteVin Wine and Cheese is one of FOCM’s recommended businesses and a 10% discount is given to anyone stating they know me or showing their FOCM card.

Had this thought this week while traveling on business.

You know this whole “1% vs 99%” topic and “income inequality” and “raise the minimum wage” debate – well I saw this quote from Pope Francis in Time Magazine, February 3 edition: “I ask you to ensure that humanity is served by wealth and not ruled by it.”  That gave me the idea to leave a $5 or $10 dollar tip on the morning I check out of the hotel.  I tip when I’m out at a restaurant or in a bar while on business travel.  The servers are making a comparatively low hourly wage as are the housekeeping staff at the hotel.  Maybe some of you already do this, I know that I may have done so only once or twice ever.

So then I thought, what if a lot of us who fit this description: work full time, travel occasionally for business or pleasure with some discretionary income (eg, kids out of college and on their own), did the same thing.  Rather than having the government engage in forced redistribution of wealth, citizens would be helping citizens for the betterment of society and the economy.  Lower wage earners would have additional income with which could help them buy additional food, goods, services, thereby improving the economy.

I believe it has a spiritual impact (it’s better to give than to receive).  Am I naïve? Do you think this has merit economically or would it be a drop in the ocean and have no or minimal economic impact?

In late January of this year at the Outsourcing in Clinical Trials West Coast conference, Lorri Perkins received her FOCM card.  It was a very moving ceremony, many tears of joy were shed.

Lorri and I worked together at ICON Clinical Research.  Lorri then went to work for ClinStar and has recently joined ChemDiv’s IPHARMA Division.  Thanks to Debbie McCoy for taking the photo and making sure to get her company’s logo in the background.

 

February 22, 2014

A good group is expected: Brian Frankel and Gwen, Chris Diehl and Polly, Sheryle Browne (FOCM’s favorite massage therapist), Carol and Harlan Cox, Angie Lee and Mike, Carol and Don Lewis, May Singh, Gayle Grandinetti, Deb Jendrasek and me.  Sadly Carrie Gallagher, Mike Burrows and Wendy Revenaugh are unable to attend

 

FOCM WBWW_2014

I recently was introduced to Heather Hollick through Tanyss Mason, a FOCM member since Fall of 2013.  I met Tanyss through a friend who introduced us.  As you can see, we each gained additional people and resources into our respective networks.  Heather’s business focuses on leadership development, team building and career coaching.  We hit it off right away with our recognition of the need and value for networking.  Heather blogs at her own website on those topics.  She has an excellent article on how to create a stronger LinkedIn profile and is graciously sharing it with FOCM Network.  This has very practical and easy to follow steps, starting with what should you do when updating and writing content for your profile.  The first thing is to turn off notifications until you have completed the update, so as not to inundate your network with multiple notifications on each thing you update.  Then once you have made the changes that she recommends, you are to turn back on the notifications.  You can go to the link below to read the full content.

How To Create A Stronger LinkedIn Profile

LinkedIn is so much more than a resume — an up-to-date profile leads to better meetings, better connections and better introductions.

But what should you actually do when updating and writing content for your profile? Every entry in your resume or LinkedIn profile should contain three key pieces of information: What you did in that role, what you learned, and what you were ready for. Most people stop at listing what they have done. You are stopping yourself short. Read on for details on how to make create a LinkedIn profile that depth and color rather than just the dry facts about what you have done.

In an extremely rare moment, I actually issued the announcement of the January 14 meeting 6 days before the event.  I am serious! I really did.  As such, we had a very good turnout. It was also helped party for Tom Perkins, which added a few more people who also came over to the FOCM section.

I gave so much notice because Toni Tiburzi had let me know she was coming to Raleigh and we had been wanting to meet and learn more about each other’s companies. I said, not only will we meet, but I’ll throw a FOCM event so you can meet more RTP area people. So thank you Toni.

First to arrive was Andrew Smith, he even beat me there. In attendance were (in no particular order):

Toni Tiburzi, Rosina Maar Pavia, Josh Davis, Mike Burrows, Vince Hoefling, Nick Macaulay, Kelly O’Brien, Heather Lee, Susan Thomason, Paul Casey, Gayle Grandinetti, Carrie Gallagher, Mike Markowitz, Tom McPhatter.

Receiving their FOCM Cards that night were: Toni Tiburzi, King Jolly and Paul Casey. If I forgot anyone else who received their card, please let me know and I’ll amend the minutes.