Month: April 2023

John McIntire left the island of Cuba as a child and came to the United States. He graduated from Princeton University in 1979 with an A.B. in economics. Thereafter, John had a 25-year career as an international investment banker in New York and London. He retired in 2004 as a partner of Goldman, Sachs & Co, where he spent 12 years focused on Latin America, including being Goldman’s CEO for that region.

Since then, John has been an active investor in and advisor to early stage companies, primarily in Latin America. In addition, he co-founded and serves as chairman of the Cuba Emprende Foundation, a 501(c)3 organization that sponsors the largest entrepreneur training program on the island. Since 2012, the Foundation has supported programs which have graduated 8,000+ entrepreneurs and supported 6,000+ small businesses. John travelled in Cuba over 20 times between 2004-16, and was a member of the official U.S. delegations that visited the island in August of 2015 and March of 2016.

John is a member of the executive committee of the policy-oriented Cuba Study Group and chair of the Cuba Working Group of the Americas Society/Council of the Americas. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. John and his family have lived in Darien since 1991.

Kevin was born and raised in Indiana.  He grew up on a small family dairy farm and his parents kind of wanted him to take over the reins, but they balanced that desire with strong encouragement to go where he wanted or needed to go.   That “where” started at Indiana University (’83), took him to a Ph.D. program at the University of Rochester, where he met his delightful wife of almost 36 years (she was his T.A. in Mathematical Modeling), and eventually to Yale Law School (’91) and a career as a New York tax attorney.  Muddy shoe to white shoe, and he would say he was happy, and lucky, for every bit of it.

Kevin and Madeleine’s son was born three weeks after Kevin graduated from YLS, so he studied for the New York Bar exam with an infant on his lap much of the time, moments he cherishes, but may have contributed to their son becoming a lawyer too.  Why their youngest is also a lawyer, but the middle child earned her Ph.D. and became a consultant, is less easily explained.  Kevin commuted to New York for many years and became a tax partner at Kirkland & Ellis, where he practiced until retiring in 2016.  He enjoyed the puzzles presented by tax law, where he specialized in private equity investments, but doesn’t miss the commute at all.  Nor does he miss the difficult balance of providing client service and trying, mostly successfully, to not miss any band concerts, dance performances or swim meets.  (There were many “3:00 meeting out of the office” entries on his calendar, but late, late, late nights afterwards, involved.)  He now finds ample time to volunteer, ride his bicycle, play paddle, ski at their Vermont home and learn to play pickleball and bridge.

Kevin and Madeleine have lived in Darien since 1993, having moved from Norwalk very shortly after their second child was born.  They have three children, all of whom benefitted from attending Holmes, Ox Ridge after their first move within Darien, Middlesex and DHS.  The kids are now married or engaged, and Kevin and Madeleine couldn’t be happier to have the in-laws they have.   Having strongly entertained the notion of down-sizing and moving to Stamford or Rowayton, COVID living arrangements with their kids who were fleeing or relocating from various urban areas made them glad they have space for all, when needed, in the lovely town of Darien.  Their children are currently located in New York and the Boston area, so Kevin and Madeleine are unlikely to leave Fairfield County any time soon.  Kevin looks forward to getting to know more of his fellow townsmen than he ever could have done while standing on the Noroton Heights platform, waiting for the “lawyers, advertisers, and sometimes ladies who lunch” train (i.e., not the 5:45) every morning. 

Jon Bigelow was born in Mineola, NY, then moved to Darien as a child. After graduating from Darien High School and Brown University, he launched a career in healthcare publishing and communications. He began as a medical writer and editor, working on a series of practical and widely-read clinical journals for physicians, and eventually rose to become President of Cliggott Publishing.

Then he joined with a private equity sponsor to acquire, and serve as President and CEO of, a group of businesses in the U.S., U.K., and Germany, which he brought together as KnowledgePoint360 Group. This grew to become the largest privately-held medical communications firm, providing publication planning, launch strategy, market access strategy, digital services, commercial benchmarking, and workflow solutions.

Since selling KnowledgePoint360, Jon has divided his time among serving as Executive Director of the Coalition for Healthcare Communication, serving on boards at two companies and an ocean sciences laboratory, and consulting and speaking on healthcare policy and communications. He has long been active in the First Congregational Church of Darien and in community organizations.

Jon and his wife, Mariann, split their time between Wilton and a summer cottage on the Maine coast. Mariann is an editor and tutors high school juniors and seniors in writing skills. Their son, James, is a software engineer and product manager in Manhattan. Jon spends free time running, hiking, sea kayaking, traveling, and reading.