wrote on 27. April 2018 at 16:28:
David Pittman hired me as PR Manager in 1996. I remember sitting in the lobby at 444 N. Michigan when I was waiting to meet with him and Shirley Ransome (the legendary velvety-voiced receptionist) told me “Dave is such a nice person.” I had no idea how life changing that job would be. BTW - I discovered Shirley was right, Dave *is* a nice person, a fantastic boss and continues to be a friend.
Five years into it, I knew I wanted to do something else instead of PR and Mark Battaglia created a job for me. He wanted someone to build a business plan for a user conference and asked me to take the role. Once I started working in events, I knew that’s where I belonged. We ran Data Mining Summits in Reston, VA and Paris. Then we created the SPSS Directions user conference which ran for several years in the US and Europe - Las Vegas, Orlando, Chicago, Athens, Amsterdam, Prague, Barcelona, Rome.
I loved the work and the travel, but what kept me with the company for so long was the people. I met some of my dearest and best friends at SPSS. To this day, I organize a holiday party in Dec/Jan where SPSSers get together. it’s truly amazing how everyone remarks that we still feel like family and that the SPSS experience was special and one-of-a-kind. I am forever grateful.
Five years into it, I knew I wanted to do something else instead of PR and Mark Battaglia created a job for me. He wanted someone to build a business plan for a user conference and asked me to take the role. Once I started working in events, I knew that’s where I belonged. We ran Data Mining Summits in Reston, VA and Paris. Then we created the SPSS Directions user conference which ran for several years in the US and Europe - Las Vegas, Orlando, Chicago, Athens, Amsterdam, Prague, Barcelona, Rome.
I loved the work and the travel, but what kept me with the company for so long was the people. I met some of my dearest and best friends at SPSS. To this day, I organize a holiday party in Dec/Jan where SPSSers get together. it’s truly amazing how everyone remarks that we still feel like family and that the SPSS experience was special and one-of-a-kind. I am forever grateful.