I am an owner of a NFL team, have twice been named Time magazine’s “Person of the Year,” was president of two public companies, speak three languages, and played on a championship basketball team. I have spoken with presidents and advised Canada’s deputy prime minister. I am an award-winning runner. 

I was born in Maryland, but grew up in Milwaukee, where I became a huge Green Bay Packers fan. When the Packers issued shares in 1997, I acquired one, becoming an owner of a NFL team.  

We left Milwaukee in 1967, shortly after Time named me “Person of the Year,” an honor I shared with every other American under the age of 25. My father had taken a job in Canada, where we would be temporarily. “Temporarily” turned out to be nearly thirty years.  

I got my college education (Dalhousie and McGill) in Canada. My two sons (28 and 24) were born in Canada. They are my nicest Canadian memory, a distant second being learning French, which I speak fluently. I know about 1000 Spanish words and phrases. Any decent spin doctor would call that “speaking Spanish.” 

I spent a decade with Pricewaterhouse Coopers, trying to damage the stereotype that accountants are boring, and another decade with Michelin. I served as president of special purpose Canadian public company. This role was as powerless as being president of the Senate, as defined by the Constitution, not as understood by Sarah Palin. That insult is a result of being raised by Democrats. My mother’s uncles served with Harry Truman during WWI. By virtue of that, I was able to meet Mr Truman and speak with him. In 2008 my son and I attended an Obama rally and spoke the words “yes, we can” along with the future president.  

Advising the deputy prime minister of Canada was more difficult. When I met him at a wedding, his party was seeking reelection. He asked me for a prediction. I tried tact, but he insisted on bluntness. “I think your party will be wiped out,” I told him. They were, winning two of the three hundred seats in the Canadian parliament.  

I was always active in sports, although I do not have my family’s athletic genes, unlike my brother, an Olympic-level canoeist. I especially enjoyed basketball, playing regularly until my late thirties. A highlight was playing on a team that won the 1988 provincial over-25 championship (What? No qualifiers? Nope).  

I took up running seriously in 2011 and have completed four marathons (and counting). I have won two awards, winning my age group in a 5k and coming third in my age group in a mile run. If had been born four days earlier and had run my most recent marathon six minutes faster, I would have qualified for the Boston Marathon. The CPA in me calls that a rounding error, the respect-running in me calls it “not yet qualifying.” 

My one gift is my memory. I remember anything I find interesting. You want me on your trivia team. That said, I missed an opportunity to invest in Trivial Pursuit. The game was invented by workers at a Montreal newspaper. They were looking for investors, although hardly in a conventional manner. I was approached in a bar, and treated their proposal as you treat most ideas you hear in bars, an environment where a seven-handicap golfer concludes quitting his job, working on his game and joining the PGA Tour is a realistic idea. Had I invested $10,000, the next sentence would read differently. 

Since coming to South Carolina in 1996, I have worked for several companies, including the company from which I retired in 2015, 3D Systems in Rock Hill. I helped take a small real estate company public and served as its president. In 2006, Time again recognized my achievements and named me “Person of the Year,” along with everyone else on earth. 

Then there was the time I had dinner with one of the richest men in the world, discussing the purchase of a major league baseball team. Or when Bryan Adams and I discussed songwriting. Or when Stephen King wanted my autograph. These stories must wait for another time.