In February of my senior year, 1963, I was interviewing with recruiters from the then Big 8 accounting firms in the Midwest . Amidst the ice and snow a group of recruiters arrived from sunny California recruiting auditors. The opportunity to go to California with a job in hand was too much to resist, consequently, I headed west and have lived there ever since.

During the early years in California I spent a short stint in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve and while working for the State of California I obtained an MBA from California State University at Los Angeles . Following a year off to travel to Europe, Hawaii and a ski resort, I went to work for a large conglomerate, INA Corporation and also obtained my CPA certificate.

In 1974 the entrepreneurial side of me caused me to join with a friend of mine, Kit Lokey in a fledging consulting firm. His other partner, Dick Houlihan had taken a sabbatical from the firm. From that beginning the two of us, and a secretary started what is now known as Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin, Inc. (“HLHZ) which is a specialty investment banking firm with approximately 700 employees in offices in 8 cities in the U.S. plus an office in London and soon to be in Paris and Frankfurt.

HLHZ specializes in three areas (1) It is the leading business valuation firm in the country as well as the leading fairness opinion provider based upon number of opinions provided (2) It is the leading middle market merger and acquisition advisor and corporate finance provider. HLHZ has consistently ranked in the top 5 firms in the country in M&A advisory services for transactions under $1 billion for the past five years based on number of transactions (3) HLHZ is the leading financial restructuring firm in the world having worked on such large restructuring projects as WorldCom, Enron, U.S. Airways, Trump Hotels & Casinos and is currently engaged by the Government of Iraq to help restructure portions of its debt. It has been a very rewarding experience over the last 30 years.

I currently reside in Woodland Hills , California a suburb of Los Angeles , with my wife, Susan and we have four children; a 2003 graduate of Miami University ; a senior at Florida State University ; a junior at Loyola Marymount University and a sophomore in high school. Hobbies include traveling, golf and skiing. I still enjoy traveling and golf with some of my fraternity brothers, namely Gus Pachis, Gary Snyder and Tom Bollenbacher even though we are scattered around the country. Forty plus years and the bonds are still there.

The recent reunion last October of Delta Gamma brothers at Miami during the years of 1960-1965 was a tremendous experience. Many of us had not seen each other for forty years and within a short while the memories were all reignited. For many of us the interest in the chapter was renewed and I strongly recommend and hope our lead is followed with other Delta Gamma reunions focused on 4 or 5 year time frames.