THE SENIOR MEN'S CLUB OF NEW CANAAN
Minutes of the Regular Meeting of September 27, 2002
President Bob Witt opened the meeting promptly on a rainy September morning with 148 members present. Current membership is 500, with 37 on the waiting list.
Announcements: Dick DePatie reported that Bill Gillerlain had surgery and is now at Waveny. Frank Perron was released from Sloan-Kettering and is recovering at Waveny. President Witt announced that Ted and Goldie Robitaille celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. Cole Fisher representing Touch the Future, requested a volunteer to mentor a 13 year old boy, and two volunteers to speak at Saxe Middle School on sign language and Braille. Joe Sweet needs two to four men to help with school tours at the Tools museum and Rocks school.
Activities: Tennis players take to the! courts MTTh from 9 to 11. Sixteen golfers will go to Ridgefield CC on September 30th. The last golf outing is scheduled for Oct. 16th, at the NCCC. Racquetball players met today but were unable to provide a headcount. Bowlers will make the best of it! It appears the bridge players are going the way of bowlers and racquetballers with lackluster participation; however they will meet at Lapham today. The Sept. 4F luncheon will be at the Darien CC. Trailblazers next hike is Oct. 14th, at Larkin State Park, in Naugatuck.
Couth: Next up, is the Broadway play Oklahoma on Oct. 9th., with dinner at 21-Club. On Nov. 9th, the Army-Air Force football game is on tap. On Dec. 5th, we will travel to Newport to visit the stately mansions. The 2003 couth calendar has plans to see "Mamma Mia" on March 12th., with dinner at the Russian restaurant Firebird.
Resident Humorist: John Berg took us back to childhood fairy tales and what a farmer would say when told that Chicken Little was talking and the sky was falling.
SPEAKER
Vice President Jack Murray presented Professor Bob Lear who introduced three speakers. The first being, David Ruf, a Columbia MBA graduate with Deutsche bank. David drew some market comparisons and differences between 1997 and today. For example, the stock markets were down about 45% , and the number of people employed on Wall Street in 1977, was about the same as today. With regard to differences, today's PE ratios are very low compared to 1997, and dividends are higher at around 4%. As for employment, signing bonuses and salaries are similar to those in 1997, however the number of new hires has decreased. Between 1992 and 2000 a business plan was sufficient to take a company public. Today, ROI, and other indicators people understand, are again required. It would appear that returning to basics is the way of the future. Dana Weeks, president of the student body and outstanding athlete stated that the quality of business school students has improved, the average GMAT score is 700, and personal interests come into consideration when applying for a job. Duff Saxe, learned the value of an MBA while working at Morgan Stanley. He stated Columbia provides access to former graduates and executives enhancing job. opportunities. Also, its location in NYC, the financial capital of the World, and its ranking as a top Business School enhance job prospects for graduates. In the past few years Columbia's ranking has increased to tenth from 34th.
Stan Stanziale - Asst. Secretary