Category: Members (Page 13 of 27)

Ken Hamilton was born in Scotland, 15 miles south of Glasgow, in 1957. He lived there for 11 years before, over the next 6 years, living in Birmingham, the West Coast of Scotland and Manchester. He returned to Scotland to attend Edinburgh University, where he majored in Business and Accounting. He began his career with a merchant bank in London. In 1988, he moved to the US, together with his wife to be, to work in the bank’s Chicago office. In 1996, he moved to Darien, and began work in the bank’s New York office. He continued working in banking in New York until retiring in 2020. 

Ken and his wife, Flora Smeaton, have two children, Emma and Ross, both in their 20’s. 

Emma lives and works in Manhattan. Ross, while technically employed in Washington DC has been working from and living in Darien since his graduation, due to Covid.

Ken has been a lifelong sports participant and fan. Having attended 4 high schools and lived on 2 continents, he has had a shot at most sports that have existed, but his longest allegiance has been to soccer. He currently plays for Stamford FC. He recently took up pickleball and will go on a 5k run if forced.  He will play tennis and golf, if his partner’s expectations are low, and cards, if no money is involved.  Other pursuits include travel, reading, cooking, visiting doctors and filing his taxes. 

Born in 1953, I grew up in Atlanta and graduated from Princeton and the Wharton School (MBA).  After college, I married a high school classmate, and we decided to brave the challenges of late 70s New York City.  Conditions chased us away from the City, and we moved to Darien in 1980, where we have lived ever since, in the same house since 1984.  

I spent twenty years in the institutional fixed income business (Bankers Trust and Merrill Lynch) and subsequently co-found a technology start-up that developed internet-based applications for the bond market.  We sold the business in 2018, and we were dismissed from our duties in 2019, resulting in an involuntary (but ultimately welcome) retirement.  

Ginger and I have three children, born from 1983 to 1991.  Our oldest graduated from Washington & Lee and Dartmouth (MBA), has four children, works for Spencer Stuart, and lives with his family in Rowayton.  Our middle child graduated from Princeton, is a veteran of a number of successful start-ups, and lives in London with her husband and daughter.  Our youngest is a Yale grad, where he was captain of the lacrosse team.  He is partner in a small sports marketing firm and splits time between New York and Darien.

Ginger and I are active members of St. Luke’s Parish, members of Wee Burn, and both enjoy bridge and golf.  We own a vacation house in Sea Island, GA, where we spend 2-3 months per year.  I am a fanatical student of history and western civilization, as well as an aficianado of great spy and mystery fiction.

Mike Delaney was born in Boston in 1949 and grew up in Yorktown Heights, NY.  He attended Kennedy Catholic High School in Somers, NY and went on to Villanova University where he majored in accounting, graduating in 1971. After a stint in the army, he began his career with the accounting firm Ernst & Ernst and later with General Foods Corp. in White Plains NY. In 1985 Mike moved to UST Inc. in Greenwich where he served as General Auditor until 2009 when the company was bought out.  Mike and his wife Maricel moved to Darien in 1989. Mike has served as a Board member and Treasurer of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation for many years. He and his wife are members of the Country Club of Darien. They have five married children, all graduates of the Darien School System, spread out across the U.S. from New York to Seattle and four grandchildren.  Mike is a lifelong Yankees nut and a big fan of Big East basketball. He enjoys golf, bird watching, traveling and spending time with his grandchildren. 

Chester L. Cobb (“Chet”) was born in New York City in 1952 and grew up in the suburb of Pelham Manor, New York.   He graduated from Pelham Memorial High School in 1970, where he was co-editor-in-chief of the school newspaper and played varsity soccer and tennis.  He graduated magna cum laude from Yale University in 1974 with a B.A. in economics and was editorial editor of the Yale Daily News.  He received his J.D. from Yale Law School in 1977.  After graduation from law school, Chet began his legal career as an associate at Milbank Tweed in New York City.  He was an associate and then a partner at Winstead McGuire in Dallas, Texas between 1984 and 1990.  Chet and his wife Mary Kay moved to Darien in 1990, when Chet joined Phillips Lytle as a partner in the firm’s New York City office.  He has practiced law at Phillips Lytle during the past 31 years until retiring at the end of 2021.  Chet served as partner-in-charge of the firm’s New York City office between 1992 and 2007 and as a member of the firm’s governing committee.   Chet and Mary Kay have three daughters, two of whom are married and reside in Darien and Denver, Colorado, and one of whom is unmarried.   They also have three grandchildren.  Chet is a member of the Country Club of Darien.  His interests include reading, travel, golf, racquet sports, spending time with his family and skiing.        

Stephen (Steve) Liguori, and his wife Susan have lived in Darien for 20+ years. Steve was born in Brooklyn, moved to upstate NY and post college lived in Wisconsin, California (2X) and Texas, before settling in Darien. He has a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and an MBA from the University of Southern California. They have three children: a daughter and two grandchildren living in Washington, DC, a son in Chicago and daughter in Oakland, CA. Susan is a Clinical Pastoral Educator, which means she trains and certifies all denominations of religious, to give spiritual care in hospitals, nursing homes, etc. They are both long time members of St. John’s of Darien.

Steve served as GE’s Executive Director – Global Innovation when GE was headquartered in CT. He was instrumental in GE’s then highly regarded Innovation efforts such as the digital “Industrial Internet” transformation. Also, at GE he was a marketing VP in GE Capital.

Prior to GE Steve held senior Advertising, Marketing and Strategy roles at Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, and Kraft Foods. He even ran a cookie company for a short time.

Steve is the Founder and CEO of Liguori Innovation, a boutique consulting firm that helps large firms transform their leadership to enable new sources of growth. Steve is also Co-Founder of the Corporate Entrepreneur Community or “CEC” with Eric Ries, best-selling author of The Lean Startup. The CEC is a private peer-to-peer network of large enterprises. 

Steve’s distinctions include being named Marketer of the Year, a published article in the Harvard Business Review, and Chairman’s Award winner at both Citigroup and General Electric. And yes, he launched the original Super Bowl Halftime show with none other than Michael Jackson!

Douglas (Doug) A. Bora, Jr. was born in 1953 and grew up in Rowayton. He graduated from St. Lawrence University and earned a B.A. in Economics. After graduation, he worked in commercial real estate finance to develop major real estate projects throughout the nation, working broadly as a lender first, an intermediary second and a principal third. He started his career working at the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York (MONY, now AXA Insurance) where he was in charge of real estate lending and acquisitions for the Northeastern United States and then worked in Citicorp’s Investment Bank where he ran institutional finance and acquisitions in the Midwestern U.S. Following that, he worked as an intermediary at the nation’s largest commercial mortgage banking company, Holliday Fenoglio Fowler (now JLL, Jones Lang LaSalle), and finally as Managing Director of Spinnaker Real Estate Partners, a major commercial and residential real estate development firm. 

Doug and his wife have lived in Darien since 1989, have two adult children and two grandchildren. He has served as Chairman or President of several real estate industry trade associations in New York and Connecticut and as Chairman of SoundWaters, a non–profit organization which teaches over 35,000 young people each year and connects them with Long Island Sound to protect and preserve the Sound through education. Doug is an avid boater and a member of Noroton Yacht Club. He enjoys skiing, pickleball and gardening and is believed to be the longest continuous seasonal paddle tennis player in Darien (over 30 years). 

James “Jim” Hutter was born in Pittsburgh, PA in 1955. He graduated in 1977 from Penn State and earned his MBA in 1979 from the University of Pittsburgh. Jim joined PricewaterhouseCoopers in Pittsburgh before transferring to
NYC. In 1991 he joined Chemical Bank as SVP & Assistant Corporate Controller. He survived four large bank mergers resulting in the creation of JP Morgan Chase. During this time, he had varied senior responsibilities including CFO of Chase Securities and CFO of JP Morgan Partners and One Equity Partners. His last role was founder and CEO of JP Morgan Private Equity & Real Estate Services.

Jim then joined Harlem Children’s Zone, a not-for-profit whose mission is to end intergenerational poverty in central Harlem. Jim was CFO and also responsible for operational functions. He retired in 2021 but continues as a part-time Executive Advisor on several strategic projects.

Jim and his wife Audrey have lived in Darien since 1989, where they raised their four children. Jim recently joined the Board of Directors of Constructive Partnerships Unlimited, a New York not-for-profit specializing in supporting individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. He remains an active CPA and is also a governing Elder at Noroton Presbyterian Church where he serves as Chair of the Finance Committee. His interests include gardening, boating, travel, theatre, major league baseball, Bible study and spending time with his wife, children and 4 grandchildren.

John Shaker grew up in Darien. He graduated from Berkshire School. He earned a B.S. degree from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications. 

He moved to Los Angeles where he held positions at CBS TV Network, KTTV (now a FOX station), and created a 90-minute ABC Network Television special, “The World Championship of Trivia” airing in 1976. 

He returned to NY to join the founding management team at MTV. He became SVP Affiliate Sales/Marketing and co-ran MTVN ’s distribution division representing the MTV, Nickelodeon, Nick at Night, TV Land, VH-1, Comedy Central and The Movie Channel cable networks. 

He went on to lead BMI/Broadcast Music’s licensing, sales and marketing division as SVP, Licensing. BMI represents the public performance rights of 12 million musical works of songwriters, composers, and music publishers. Over his 13 years, BMI grew into the world’s largest revenue producing performing rights organization. In 1995, he signed the internet’s first ever commercial music license. 

Following BMI, he formed his own media and music consulting firm working with AT&T Interactive, USA Networks, Discovery Networks, Comedy Central, ASCAP, and many early/mid-stage companies. He has served on the non-profit boards of the IRTS/International Radio & Television Society, Radio Mercury Awards, AWRT/American Women of Radio & Television, Person to Person and as a volunteer at Future 5. He enjoys traveling, theater, art, hiking, skiing, and loves ice hockey. He’s a member of the Darien Winter Club, the CT Olde Crabs Hockey Club, Darien Boat Club and Silvermine Golf Club. His two children live on the west coast.

Sponsors: Bob McGroarty and Ed Sweeney

Stephen “Steve” Larson

Steve Larson was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1958.  He grew up on the south side of the city and went to Marist High School where he played baseball.  He went on to receive an accounting degree from the University of Illinois in Champaign in 1980.  He is a certified public accountant who started his career at Arthur Andersen & co.  He continued his education at the University of Chicago where he received an MBA with a concentration in finance graduating in 1985.  He moved to New York and started a career in private equity.  He worked for ten years at CF Capital a merchant bank focusing on mergers and acquisitions.  He joined Cornerstone Equity, the private equity arm spun out of the Prudential, in 1997.  While semi-retired he continues to serve on the board of portfolio companies.  Steve and his wife Kate have lived in Darien since 1989 and have two adult children.  He is an avid sports fan and follows all “non-Cub” Chicago sports teams.   Steve is the former president of the Fairfield County Paddle Tennis League.  He is a member of the Silvermine and Woodway Country Clubs, and enjoys reading, golf, paddle and travel.

James “Jim” Patrick Garvin was born in the Bronx in 1948. He worked summers at Yankee Stadium selling hot dogs while attending Cardinal Hayes High School. Jim received a BS in Economics from the University of Dayton. He later received an MBA in Finance and Investments from Baruch College, CUNY, and a Post Grad degree in Accounting, NYU Stern Graduate School of Business. Jim is a CPA, having worked at Coopers & Lybrand in NYC. He worked for 30 years at Citigroup’s Corporate and Investment Bank. When his division relocated to Stamford in 1983, the family moved to Darien. For many years, he was an Adjunct Finance Professor at Fordham University Graduate School of Business at Lincoln Center. After 30 years at Citigroup, Jim changed careers. As University Bursar, for The City University of New York (CUNY), he is involved in setting tuition policies and related student matters.

For the past 25 years, Jim has been serving as an Admissions Officer for the United States Naval Academy. He was a Unit Commissioner for the CT Yankee BSA Council and the Andrew Shaw Memorial Trust Charter Organization Representative for the Darien’s Scouting Units.

Daniel Kolakowski was born in Hartford and raised in Wethersfield, CT. He received his BS in Civil Engineering in 1975 from the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado. He served in the military for five years at a Strategic Air Command base in Maine and left the service as a Captain.

Dan moved to Darien in 1980 and began his career with Skanska USA, a large international construction management firm where he became Senior Vice President. He received his MBA from the University of Connecticut. Dan was responsible for major construction projects in NYC, including the US Air Terminal at LaGuardia, Terminal One at JFK, all the AirTrain stations at JFK, Howard Beach and Jamaica, most of the new piers and parks in and along the Hudson River for the Hudson River Park Trust and the complete renovation of the United Nations Headquarters along 1^st Avenue. Dan retired in 2016, but still consults with Delta Airlines on construction projects at LaGuardia.

Dan and his wife Pam live in Darien and are active members of Noroton Presbyterian Church, where Dan has served as an Elder. They have two daughters (Julie Sweeney and Tracy King) and one son (Keith) and seven grandchildren. Both daughters live in Darien and their son lives in Orlando, FL. Dan’s interests include most sports, but especially golf, as well as traveling.

Tim Reis grew up on Long Island (Wantaugh, Syosset and mostly Garden City, with Yorba Linda, California briefly wedged in between).  He attended Fairfield University and graduated in 1983 with a degree in English.  Tim spent 35 years in the media business, selling advertising at magazines including Fortune and Forbes, founding an independent rep firm in Atlanta and ultimately spending 12 years at Google before retiring at the end of 2019.

Tim, his wife Patty and their two (adult) children have lived in Darien for 20 years.  Tim continues to guest lecture at Columbia Business School, he loves to travel, holds black belts in karate and aikido, is an avid gardener, golfer and an unsuccessful singer/songwriter (you can hear his work on Spotify, YouTube, Amazon Music, Apple Music, etc.).