For those familiar with the television direct response mega-hit Smart Spin, Warren Tuttle was the person behind the scenes helping to orchestrate its overnight success. Teaming with a Boston based inventor, Tuttle selected an explosive path to market. With almost 10 million units sold so far, SmartSpin continues to be prominently featured at major retailers throughout America. Warren also teamed to initiate the market launch of several other innovative kitchen products including MISTO, The Gourmet Olive Oil Sprayer, which has sold over 5 million units around the world to date, and The Toss and Turn Pan, one of the best selling cookware frypans in the US in 2005. Warren has also helped numerous housewares product patent holders obtain licensing agreements with major U.S. manufacturers and has counseled many inventors who went on to start their own small businesses.

Warren currently serves as the President of the United Inventors Association, the nation’s largest 501c3 non-profit dedicated to inventor education and advocacy.

Warren focuses on external product development for Lifetime Brands of Garden City, New York, the world’s largest manufacturer of kitchen utensils and a major supplier of food prep and tabletop products to America’s major retailers. Lifetime Brands manufactures and markets over 30,000 products under multiple brand names including Farberware, Kitchen Aid, Cuisinart, Pedrini, Mikasa, Towle and Pfaltzgraff; introducing over 4,000 new products each year. There is great enthusiasm for looking outside the company for innovation, particularly patented new products. Warren has initiated almost 100 new product licensing agreements with Lifetime Brands.

Additionally, Warren helps with the Open Innovation program at Techtronic Industries NA of Anderson,South Carolina, manufacturers of Ridgid and Ryobi power tools and Hart hand tools. As an outside contractor, he screens and serves as a liaison for innovative external product submissions for the mutual benefit of both the companies and inventors. He also works closely with Direct Response Television stalwart Merchant Media of Marlborough, MA who has launched many successful TV products over the past 20 years.

Prior to developing and marketing products for the housewares industry, Warren owned 5 of his own gourmet specialty kitchenware stores (The Complete Kitchen of Southern CT), a prepared food and catering business (The Good Food Store of Darien, CT), a nationally recognized cooking school and a partnership in a kitchen design business. Food and Wine magazine once described The Complete Kitchen as “one of the finest gourmet stores in America”. Warren began his career as a department store buyer of cookware and small appliances in New York City (Abraham and Straus of Brooklyn, NY).

Arranged by Bob Howe

Video of his presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvVDuyB_sQI

Arranged by Gary Banks

Video of his presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bwfg0L9FKYA&t=18s

NORTH KOREA:  THE LAST STALINIST STATE        

 North Korea has been the object of President Trump’s international desires for more than two years.  He and the North Korean leader, Kim Jung Un, have met twice in elaborately staged sessions that have on the surface been devoted to the so-called “denuclearization” of the Korean peninsula.

But those up-and-down efforts have been criticized by several experts as simply extended photo opportunities, a chance for both leaders to gain world wide exposure for one of the most intractable military and geo-political situations on the planet.

CNN’s David Fitzpatrick, who has traveled to North Korea twice and earned an EMMY Award for his role in a ground breaking CBS News report on the famine in North Korea, will examine the North Korea of today and of yesterday, which are in fact striking in their similarities.

Genuine progress may in fact occur between the United States and North Korea but the odds of success are slim indeed.

Fitzpatrick will explain why in detail and discuss his two trips to a nation that’s rightly been called The Hermit Kingdom.

DAVID FITZPATRICK BIOGRAPHY

A member of DMA and a Darien resident for 35 years, David Fitzpatrick is currently a Staff Writer for CNN’s flagship prime time newscast,  “Anderson Cooper 360.”   Fitzpatrick has been at CNN as an anchor producer, senior executive producer and investigative producer since 2001, with the exception of a year sabbatical in 2017.

Prior to joining CNN, he spent 25 years at CBS News in a variety of editorial positions, including service as a producer in the network’s Washington, Los Angeles and London Bureaus.  He has also served as the network’s Bureau Chief in Chicago and later, National Editor.   He joined the CBS Evening News as a producer in the late 1980s and subsequently joined “60 Minutes” as a producer attached to the late Morley Safer.   He also was a producer for two other CBS News newsmagazines, “Eye to Eye With Connie Chung” and “Public Eye With Bryant Gumbel.”  Upon leaving CBS News in 1998, he joined the staff of the ABC News prime time newsmagazine “20/20.”

During his career, he has worked for CBS News, ABC News and CNN on assignment across the world, including time in Iran during the hostage crisis, in Poland during the Solidarity uprising, throughout the Middle East, Africa, Central and South America.   He’s also been assigned to work in New Orleans during the Katrina disaster, in Indonesia for the devastating tsunamis of 2004/05 and in Malaysia for the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.

He and his wife Adria Bates have three adult children, now scattered throughout the United States.

Arranged by Alex Garnett

Vide of his resentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdC_QNtcEsA&feature=youtu.be

Red Jahncke

Red Jahncke is a self-trained, later-in-life conservative columnist writing in a deep blue state.  He will share how he evolved professionally and what it is like practicing his craft in CT.  The format we will use for his talk will be similar to what we use for some of our discussion groups.  Prior to his talk, read his articles posted below.  He will use them as a springboard for a lively and informative discussion.

Red Jahncke is a nationally recognized columnist, who writes about politics and policy. His columns appear in numerous national publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, The Hill and USA Today, as well as many Connecticut newspapers. Red’s columns are featured on Real Clear Politics and CT Capitol Report, often leading to TV and radio interviews. He has appeared on national shows including Closing Bell on CNBC and Willis Report on Fox as well as The Real Story on Fox 61 in Connecticut.

Red is the founder and CEO of The Townsend Group International, LLC a business consulting firm headquartered in Connecticut. Earlier in his career, he was an investment banker at E.F. Hutton and J.P. Morgan Chase specializing in financial institutions.

Red was raised in Connecticut, where he and his wife have raised four children. He is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Business School.

His website is: The-Red-Line.com

Arranged by Alex Garnett

Presentation video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pu8cq6gIdfI

Jim will speak on “Saving Animals From Extinction: Tales of Species Recovery in CT and Beyond”

Jim is the Curator of Education for Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo.  Jim is a TEDx Speaker with more than 3000 presentations to his credit. As a wildlife expert and keynote speaker, he revels in sharing his passion for working with the world’s most remarkable animals to transport audiences into his wild world.

He’s a graduate of Cornell University where he studied Animal Science, Applied Economics and Business Management .    He’s been a guest lecturer for the University of Connecticut.  A conservationist who has studied Black rhinos, lions and Great White sharks in Africa.  An adventurer who has conducted field research on Alaskan Brown Bears.  The former host of PBS television’s Wildzoofari.  A writer who has written for PBS television and The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.  A wildlife expert who has appeared on: The Today Show, The CBS Early Show and Fox News and has been featured in The New York Times.

CRIKEY!

Arranged by Gehr Brown

Video of presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sLTpNQJeZ0

JAMES CANTON

The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp was founded in 1988 by Paul Newman with one simple premise in mind: to provide opportunities for children with serious illnesses to experience the transformational spirit and friendships that go hand-in-hand with camp.

Paul Newman, while a successful actor, was also a visionary with the heart of a child. His personality, playfulness and mischievousness are infused within every corner of Camp, from the pirate flag he raised on the tree house to the days he spent on the lake fishing with campers. It was Paul’s dream that Camp, with its unobtrusive expert medical care, would provide seriously ill children with a fun-filled experience defined by compassion, laughter and acceptance.

A Little History

Newman announced his plans to build The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp in 1986, and in June 1988, Camp opened. When the campers arrived, they found a kid-sized old west setting inspired by “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” and filled with traditional summer camp programs adapted so that children with physical and medical limitations could participate. The accessibility of the programs along with a significant, yet unobtrusive medical presence allowed campers to embrace possibilities and safely challenge perceived limitations. Among kindred spirits facing similar challenges, they escaped isolation and found a community defined by acceptance.

In 1989, the healing power of Hole in the Wall extended to families with the introduction of a summer session for the healthy siblings of campers. In 1992, parents got in on the fun when the Camp introduced the first Change of Pace Experience (COPE) weekend. Then in 2002, one charismatic counselor, armed with paints and craft projects, ventured into a Connecticut hospital and proved that the fun and friendship experienced at Camp were portable. That is how the Hospital Outreach Program began and today more than 30 full-time specialists are serving nearly 40 locations from Boston to Philadelphia. Then in 2013, CampOut was launched, bringing the fun and friendship of Camp directly into camper homes and communities.

For more go to:https://www.holeinthewallgang.org/

Arranged by Gary Banks

Presentation video: https://youtu.be/vJ60J66hswE