Month: May 2022

Preston Bealle was born in 1951 in Pelham Manor, NY. During school years, he moved to New Canaan and Los Angeles, with influential lessons from each. His father was vice president of the Los Angeles Dodgers, so he went to every game, often sitting in their box with Cary Grant, Annette Funicello, Jack Benny or other stars. After University of Arizona, he entered advertising in New York City with Dancer Fitzgerald Sample, working on Skippy, Hellman’s, Clorox, Hewlett Packard and many other accounts.

When the internet hit around 1997, Preston converted and became the first head of online advertising at any agency. He left the agency business and became founder and/or CEO at Jumbo.com, Babygear.com and Gorp.com, later merging each with larger companies. Retired, he is an active trader of weekly stock options. He decided in 15 minutes on their first date that he hoped to marry his wife, Kim. They had a large formal wedding on their 7th date and have been married for 43 years raising 3 kids who went K-12 in Darien.

A music buff, Preston has a lifelong fascination with the Everly Brothers, and his 12 year-old
face is still often seen on Ed Sullivan clips from the famous Beatles broadcast in 1964.

Samuel (Sam) Bird, Jr. was born in Stevens Pont, Wisconsin in 1937 and was raised in Dallas and New Orleans. He attended high school and college in Wisconsin, graduating from Marquette University in 1957 with a bachelor of mechanical engineering degree. He then received an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1966. Before graduating, he served for two years in the U.S. Army in Germany.

Early in his career Sam worked for IBM as a Systems Engineer, as a management consultant for Booz Allen Hamilton, as a security analyst for Laird and Company, and as President of United Systems, a computer services firm. In 1980 he founded Bird Automotive, a designer and manufacturer of automotive accessories, headquartered in California and now in Connecticut. He continues the business on a reduced basis. Sam has served on the boards of San Francisco University High School, Wayfarer Church Foundation and Hadco Corporation.

Sam was married in 1987 to Cynthia Danieson Bird, who retired from teaching at Middlesex School in Darien in 2000. The Birds then moved to California for 11 years, returning to Connecticut in 2021. They have four sons, seven grandchildren, and attend St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Darien.

Daniel Lew was born in the Bronx, N.Y. in 1963 and is a first generation Chinese American. He graduated from the Bronx High School of Science in 1981, from Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Science with a B.S. degree in computer science engineering in 1985 and from New York University School Stern School of Business with an MBA in finance in 1989. He earned his Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 1997.

Dan enjoyed a 30-year career in investments working at Equitable in NYC, Rogers Casey in Darien, William M. Mercer in NYC, Strong Funds in NYC, Citizens Advisers in Portsmouth, American International Group in Jersey City, and John Hsu Capital in NYC. He had a myriad of roles including portfolio analysis computer programming, performance measurement, client servicing, asset allocation, institutional investment consulting, security analysis, and portfolio management.

After leaving the Wall Street world in 2015, Dan decided to became a Main Street entrepreneur and was the first Connecticut franchisee for uBreakiFix, now the largest consumer electronics repair franchise in Fairfield County. In 2018, he sold the business and decided to “retire”.  Dan and his wife Fiona, a hemodialysis senior nurse clinician at NYU Langone, have lived in Darien since getting married in 1991 and have three daughters.  Dan is oftentimes found at the Darien YMCA swimming laps, playing pickle ball or in boxing fitness class. He is a member of the Coast Guard Auxiliary, Stamford flotilla, and continues to be an active public and private equity investor. He enjoys cooking, fishing, golf, and playing craps.

Eugene (Gene) Luciana was born in 1941 and grew up in Steubenville, Ohio. He graduated from Franciscan University in 1963 with a B.S. degree in finance and accounting. He joined the Deloitte accounting firm and upon attaining his CPA certificate, he taught accounting at Franciscan University as well as at Kent State University. Gene subsequently became the chief financial officer and a Board member of Heritage industries in Chattanooga, Tenn. Through an acquisition, he became executive vice president, chief financial officer and a Board member of Chase Paper and Packaging in Greenwich, CT. After sale of the company to International Paper, he became the executive vice president, chief financial officer of Sunbelt Beverage Company, a leading wine and spirits distributor, which took him to Baltimore. 3 Mergers and acquisitions transactions were the main driver of Gene’s career. His most recent transactions involved the wine and spirits companies of the Wirtz family of Chicago, Illinois, creating Breakthru Beverage. He retired in 2021 as executive vice president, chief financial officer of Breakthru but remains on the Board of its majority owner.

Gene and his wife Betty Ann have lived in New Canaan as well as Darien for 35 years. They have six children. His interests include politics, the stock market, St. Thomas More Church, the New York Yankees, the NFL and Notre Dame football.