Category: Speaker Announcements (Page 26 of 27)

Michael J, Nyenthuis

Michael J. Nyenthuis, president and chief executive officer of Americares, one of the country’s foremost disaster-relief non-profit organizations, will talk about distributing $500 million a year in donated medicines and medical supplies to people around the world who otherwise would not get treatment.

Michael leads a global health and emergency response organization that increases access to medical care in more than 90 countries, including the United States, El Salvador, India, Liberia, Nepal, the Philippines, Sierra Leone and Tanzania, plus free health clinics in Connecticut. Americares helps local health workers do their job better: Through the effective use of technology, the organization helps get medicine and supplies to the right place at the right time.

Michael is a global health professional with 20 years of experience who previously served as president and chief executive officer of MAP International. He received a B.A. degree from the University of Wisconsin, Green Bay, and an M.B.A. from Emory University.

Thanks to Bob Baylis.

We wish you a wonderful holiday!

Senator Richard Blumenthal

Richard Blumenthal, United States Senator for Connecticut, serving his first term, will talk about the key issues facing the state and the country.

Previously, he served five terms as Connecticut’s attorney general where his law enforcement for consumer protection, environmental stewardship, labor rights and personal privacy helped reshape the role of state attorney general’s nationwide. As attorney general he advocated for reforms in health insurance and worked to eradicate corruption in state government. He fought unfair utility rate charges and air pollution causing acid rain.

From 1977 to 1981, he served as a U.S. attorney for Connecticut. He also served in the Connecticut House of Representatives from 1984 to 1987 and the Connecticut State Senate from 1987 to 1990.

Senator Blumenthal graduated from Harvard College and Yale Law School, where he was editor-in-chief of the Yale Law Journal. He served in the United States Marine Corps Reserves from 1970 to 1976 and was honorably discharged with the rank of sergeant.

Arranged by Bob Fiske

Board of Finance Chairman Jon Zagrodzky (image from Darien TV79 video)

Jon Zagrodzky, chairman of the Town of Darien Board of Finance, will summarize his comments to the December 12, 2016, State of the Town meeting.  That meeting covers key town financial issues, including the outlook for the 2018-2019 budget process, which starts in January, and the possible impact of Hartford’s difficult financial situation on the Town of Darien.

The elected seven-member Board of Finance is responsible for the town’s $130 million annual budget. Jon also serves as a member of the Darien Town and Police Pension boards and was president of the Darien Historical Society from 2011-2015. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Forman School, a Litchfield (Connecticut) high school that specializes in children with learning differences.

Jon is a managing director of Oak Hill Capital Partners and serves as chief administrative officer and chief compliance officer. He is responsible for finance, operations, human resources, administration, information technology and business planning.

Prior to joining Oak Hill, he was an associate principal and director of financial planning and analysis at McKinsey & Company.

He earned a B.A. degree in economics and romance languages from Washington & Lee University and an M.B.A. degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Arranged by Tom Lom

Sylvia Reiss will talk about “Our Amazing Stone Walls: What They Are and Where They Are.”

A local resident, stone wall enthusiast and historian, Sylvia will present a fascinating, educational and amusing look at these historical structures. Stone walls are the signature archaeological legacy of Darien and New England itself. They can be seen along roadsides, far into the woods, across back yards and between houses. The stone walls delineate and define northeastern America as surely as the Appian Way says Italy or the Great Wall says China.

Darien is fortunate to have within its 23.4 square-miles many miles of these walls that have for centuries characterized our town’s agrarian heritage. It is the story of millions of fieldstones, tossed, stacked and laid; of single walls, double walls capped or coped; of rare walls and mysteries that will be revealed during Sylvia’s presentation.

Sylvia Reiss is a former teacher, retired antiques dealer, past president of the Antiques Council, and tag-along historian with her husband Ken Reiss, who is the Darien Historical Society’s historian.

Arranged by Tom Haacke

We wish you a Happy Thanksgiving!

Frederic Chiu

Frederic Chiu will talk about his life as a pianist. His intriguing piano-playing and teaching springs from a diverse set of experiences and interests that include his Asian/American/European background and his musical training that he has combined with an early and ongoing exploration of artificial intelligences and human psychology, especially the body-mind-hearts connection.

With over 25 CDs, his repertoire includes the complete works of Prokofiev and popular classics of Chopin, Liszt, Mendelssohn and Rossini. His work has been recognized by Stereo Review, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.

Chiu has toured Europe and the United States appearing with world renowned orchestras in prestigious halls such as the Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, and the Koi and Suntory Halls in Tokyo.

His most recent releases are entitled “Distant Voices” and “Hymns & Dervishes.” On his 50th birthday he hopes to have completed performances in 50 of the United States.

Arranged by Tom Lom

A brief video of Chiu playing the piano can be seen by clicking on the image below.

I recently celebrated a personal milestone which I feel compelled to share … September 23, 2016 marked the 50th anniversary of my arrival in the United States. It was cause not only for celebration but also for reflection and thanks.

Fifty years ago, in September 1966, a young man from India boarded a Pan Am flight from New Delhi, India bound for San Francisco, Cal. I was coming to the University of California at Berkeley to pursue a graduate degree in engineering. My plan was to obtain the degree, work for two or three years and then head back home. Little did I know…

Within weeks of my arrival in Berkeley, I had inhaled the fresh air of freedom and, this being Berkeley in the sixties, it wasn’t just freedom, it was freedom plus. At that time India wasn’t the rollicking democracy it is today. It was run on socialist lines where the government controlled all major sectors of the economy, and personal freedoms, while enshrined in the country’s constitution, were, in practice, hugely circumscribed. So for me to taste this freedom in Berkeley, was a heady experience: it was intoxicating, it was liberating and it became addictive. It felt like a new birth, in fact, “a new birth of freedom,” to quote that immortal phrase from Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. Once having tasted this freedom, it was hard to untaste it; once the mind has been unshackled, it is hard to allow it to be shackled again. I decided to abandon my plan to return to India and to make America my new home.

Now, 50 years later, the fact that I am a resident of the prosperous town of Darien is not so much a testament to anything special that I accomplished. Rather, it is a testament to this country that it can take a young man of perhaps modest ability and intelligence, and mold and motivate him to be the best that he can be. This is the true genius of America and that’s what makes this country great.

As I reflected, I realized that I, an immigrant, have lived in this country longer than three-quarters of native born Americans living today, because they are less than 50 years old. Just think about that. It is truly astonishing and could happen in no other country. And that, too, is what makes America great.

And so I say to America: Thank you for a great 50 years!

Sunil Saksena

Tom Molito will talk about his book, Mickey Mantle: Inside and Outside the Lines, that was written for baseball lovers and Mantle fans. Archival newspaper articles, websites and more than 35 books on Mantle are used to weave the most complete, unique look at an American icon. The book recalls never-before-told stories: from Park Avenue to Las Vegas to Cooperstown; from television shoots to concerts and Mickey’s restaurant on Central Park West.

This year is the 60th anniversary of Mantle’s Triple Crown season, which many baseball experts consider one of the best seasons ever for a ball player. Although baseball fans who experienced that season are decreasing in number, Mickey Mantle is more popular than ever. The value of his memorabilia is second to none. He remains respected and admired for the redemptive quality of his life.

Mickey Mantle and Tom Molito

Molito collaborated with the highly respected baseball historian Harold “Doc” Friend. The late Mr. Friend wrote for Bleacher Report (CBS) and uncovered previously unknown facts about Mantle’s career – such as Mickey hitting the facade in Yankee Stadium three times, not the reported twice. An entire chapter updates Mantle’s career with present-day statistical measures and comes to the indisputable conclusion that “Mickey Mantle was even better than we thought!”

Tom lives in New Canaan with his wife Kathleen. They have three adult children, four grandchildren and will soon celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary. A graduate of Iona College and a U.S. Army veteran, Tom served in senior marketing positions at both Nestle and UST Inc. where he founded and was president of a wholly owned subsidiary, Cabin Fever Entertainment. He met Mickey Mantle as a result of Cabin Fever’s award winning production of the 500 Home Run Club. Tom’s relationship with Mickey Mantle developed into a friendship and eventually the book that is available at leading booksellers.

Tom has served on the boards of The Country Music Association and Family Services of Westchester. He was very involved in the Children’s Program at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility. His talk will include an exhibit featuring Mickey Mantle by various artists.

Arranged by Alex Garnett

Dave Walker

Dave currently serves as the first Senior Strategic Advisor for the Global Public Sector Practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). He is a well-recognized fiscal responsibility/accountability, government transformation, and retirement security expert.

Dave received Presidential appointments with unanimous Senate confirmation from Reagan, Bush (41) and Clinton, including serving as Comptroller General of the United States and head of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) for almost 10 years. He previously served as a Partner and Global Managing Director with Arthur Andersen LLP. Dave also served as the first Chairman of the United Nations Independent Audit Advisory Committee for four years. He currently serves on a number of non-profit boards, including AARP. He is also is an inductee into the International Accounting Hall of Fame.

See David Walker’s Presentation Slides.

Ute Wartenburg-Kagan

Ute Wartenberg Kagan, whose primary research focus is on ancient Greek coinage, has spent most of her academic career in the museum world. From 1991 through 1998 she worked as the Curator of Greek Coins in the British Museum in London, and since 1999 she has been the Executive Director of the American Numismatic Society in New York. The American Numismatic Society is the pre-eminent national institution focused on the research and the advancement of the appreciation of coins and related objects. It maintains a museum collection of over 800,000 objects dating from 650 BCE to the present.

Educated in Saarbrucken, Germany, Dr. Wartenberg Kagan was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University where she received her doctorate in papyrology. She has published more than 50 books and articles on numismatics and papyrology, is recognized public speaker, and is frequently interviewed for newspapers, radio, and television. In connection with her active interest in current U. S. coinage, Dr. Wartenberg Kagan has testified about coin design before the Senate Banking Committee, and she has been appointed by the Secretary of the Treasury to various coin advisory committees. She was formerly a member of the German national fencing team.

At the DMA Dr. Wartenberg Kagan will provide an entertaining, amusing, and educational introduction to the world of numismatics, including stories of rare and valuable coins, counterfeit coins, the discoveries of treasure coins, and a discussion of how coins are our only means by which we might have a realistic visage of Cleopatra.

Thomas M. T. Niles

Thomas M. T. Niles retired from the United States Foreign Service in September 1998 following a career of more than 36 years. In the Foreign Service, he served as Ambassador to Canada (1985-89), Ambassador to the European Union (1989-91), Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Canada (1991-93), and Ambassador to Greece (1993-97).

Earlier in his career, he served in Belgrade, Moscow (twice), and the United States Mission to NATO in Brussels as well as in the Department of State. On February 1, 1999, he became President of the United States Council for International Business (USCIB), which advances the global interests of American business both at home and abroad, promoting an open system of world trade, finance, and investment. It is the U.S. affiliate of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the Business and Industry Advisory Committee (BIAC) to the OECD, and the International Organization of Employers (IOE).

On April 15, 2005 Ambassador Niles retired as President of USCIB and became Vice Chairman of the Council.