2017 Alumni Dinner Followup

Our 2017 dinner weekend is in the history books. It was good to see friends and catch up on their activities since last year.

The weekend was full of activities.

  • Bridge competition at Josh and Jeanne’s on Friday was fierce as usual.   Players included Elaine Moore, Kline Reed, John Caldwell, guests Jerry and Gudi Noonan, and Josh. Kline and Elaine were the top scorers.
  • The Financial Braggarts Breakfast Club gathered Saturday morning in Roswell to celebrate Bill Beckemeyer’s 2016 winning investment portfolio and kick off their 20th year of congenial competition and breakfast conversation.
  • Our dinner gathering at Dunwoody Country Club Saturday night was good. We missed a few of our regulars, but welcomed new faces from the Atlanta Office. I won’t repeat program details here as you can see the powerpoint slides used for the program by clicking here. Speakers included Bill Beckemeyer, Dave Cole, and Kline Reed (remembrances of those we have lost); Mike Gregory (KS – Accenture Transition); and John Champion (History Project).

Thanks to Libby for her behind-the-scenes work that keeps the event running smoothly, to Butch Price for enabling us to use Dunwoody Country Club, and to all who had suggestions for and supported our program.

2018 Alumni Dinner

Our 2018 Alumni dinner is scheduled for the fourth Saturday in 2018 – January 27th, 2018  first Saturday in February – February 3rd, 2018 – at Dunwoody Country Club in Atlanta. Put it in your calendar now. We look forward to seeing you there.

History Project

Here is a quick overview of the History Project for those of you who did not get to hear John Champion’s comments at the dinner.

Collecting copies of memorable documents from KS offices has been a topic of conversation for some time. A project actually began shortly after the 2016 alumni dinner with an inventory of photos and documents available in the Atlanta office, and a survey of resources available to capture and display the project’s output. Calls to this group for photos and documents yielded some fruit, such as a nearly complete collection of KSA Observers sent by Hal Wilson. Project activities continued at a leisurely pace until Accenture’s acquisition of KS was announced in the fall, then kicked into high gear as John and his team learned of plans to relocate KS AO staff to Accenture’s offices early in 2017.

The rest of the story is documented on our web site at www.kurtsalumni.com. Click on “History” in the menu and settle in for a delightful walk through our history. The collection is divided into photos and PDFs for technical reasons, and there are lots of photos throughout the PDF section. The “Group” PDF section is noteworthy as it includes some group pictures and our comprehensive set of individual pictures in the 1988 Family Album.

Be aware that many of the PDFs are quite large (25 – 30MB) so be cautious about opening them if you have a slow internet collection.

Also be aware that the “search” link in the site’s menu bar takes you to a page that gives you the ability to search photo titles, file names, and captions for specified content. Handy if you are looking for photos of “dean” or “ken”.

If you have photos or documents not included in our history collection, please send them to John or Bill.

As you go through the year, if you become aware of news relevant to the Alumni community, please email it to Bill. We will add it to the web site and, if appropriate, distribute it to those on our mailing list.

Best regards,

Bill & the Alumni Dinner Team

John Beddows

John Beddows (1937 – 2016). John was was the first manager of our practice in Ireland, was managing director of the U.K. business for many years and served on the board of KSA.

John Beddows passed away on 29th January after a short illness. John joined KSA in the mid 1960’s and for over 30 years was major influence on our consumer products practice. He was the first manager of our practice in Ireland, was managing director of the U.K. business for many years and served on the board of KSA. Many colleagues will remember him as a fine colleague, a mentor and a gentleman. He was pre deceased by wife Connie and survived by daughters Sarah and Emma and two grandchildren. He was 79.

The funeral is at 1:15pm on Friday 27th January at Darlington Crematorium followed by a wake at Dinsdale Golf Club which is nearby. Please let Sarah Aunger know by text if you plan to attend (07941 873619).

Emma is writing the eulogy and welcomes any anecdotes or thoughts on her father’s time at KSA. You can send them to Alan at alan_braith@yahoo.co.uk.

Click here to visit Alan’s Facebook posting.