If you were at the Local Pour April 7 you know what a great time we had. From the marketing and institutional group reunions, to friends’ expressions of delight and lots of hugging and enjoying the outdoor patio, you are sure to enjoy the pictures which are now online.
“It was exciting,” said Patti Hefley. I was calling and texting and saying look, get a babysitter. Fly in. Do what it takes.”
That is exactly what happened. As the evening started, a hotel van pulled up and out came the institutional guys. The group included Pat Bray who is in Austin, Texas; Neal Seidle who lives in Oklahoma; Bruce Simmons who is in Austin and still with the firm; Mark Santero who works for Oppenheimer Funds in Connecticut; and Bill Wendell, with Access Distribution Partners in Delaware.
Andy Beal, Invesco, flew in from Ohio. From the West Coast, Linda Pix who is Managing Partner of Integrated Advisors Network arrived from California. Linda was enroute to Dallas and made a detour. Lanny Sachnowitz and Bret Stanley work together and Lanny was in town to visit family and meet with Bret. Polly Ahrendts made her regular appearance, coming in from New Mexico.
Gene Needles travels from Dallas each year and Kelly Niland, who is also in Dallas working for Garcia Hamilton attended.
Patti wrote a letter asking Joel Dobberpuhl if he might attend. “He and I were very close for a long time and then we both left AIM and we lost track of one another. Time went on. He was one of my boys and he became so successful. I googled him and found an address and said it has been too long,” she said. “After ten minutes saying how I never heard a word from Joel, he walked in and I just about cried,” laughs Patti. With personal outreach from Patti, Dawn, Barrett Sides, Ann Srubar and Margaret Vinson, we were excited to have so many friends from out of town join the crowd.
There were local surprises too. “Jaws dropped when Mike Cemo walked in. Mike was the chief of our sales and marketing department. He loved the company,” said Patti.
Bob Graham wrote the following email to the organizers: Congratulations on organizing what I think may well be the best AIM Alumni Happy Hour yet and many thanks for all the effort you put into it. Particular thanks go to Patti who used handwritten notes to cajole some of out of towners to attend for the first time. It was really great to have all of them as well as so many of our home town folks there. The fact that so many alumni continue to show up for these events just shows how much everybody at AIM liked the people they worked with and how lucky we all were to be able to work at AIM. It is such a gift to me to be able to see the alumni happily reuniting with their former colleagues and to hear them tell of their fond memories of AIM. AIM certainly seems to hold a special place in the hearts of those who worked there, which does wonderful things for my heart.
Thank you for helping us all briefly recapture the spirit of AIM.
Bob Graham
Other regulars included Dawn Hawley, Mark McMeans, Abbott Sprague, Ginger Neal, Gene Needles, Paula Permente, Sharon Lester, Charles Scavone, Mary Gentempo, Jennifer Tickle, Michelle Grace, Mary Benson, Anne Warnock, Jim Salners, and Ana Hernaez.
Log on and click on Photo Gallery to see the pictures taken by our own Dawn Hawley. “I was excited to see so many friends at the event and I was to get pictures of everyone,” said Dawn. With a crowd of more than 100, Dawn succeeded.
“The Local Pour was a great place with ample parking and a patio. We needed the room and people stayed late into the night. We look forward to building on the momentum and getting an even bigger crowd next year,” said Barrett Sides.