Page 1 - Diamond News - Winter 2017-18

Winter 2017-18 | Georgia Institute of Technology | Alumni Office | P.O. Box 80828, Atlanta, Georgia 30366
President’s Report Spotlight Christopher L. Williams ’01
Alumni

Thank you to Paul Editor’s Note: For this edition of the newsletter, we’re shining
Phillips ’77 for having the Spotlight on Chris Williams ’01. From the hometown
his 1949 Cadillac of Lawrenceville, Georgia, Chris served as our past chapter
represent DU in the treasurer and graduated from Tech with honors with a
classic car division in the bachelor of science in management. He then continued to
Homecoming Ramblin’ Harvard Business School for his MBA. Currently working as
Wreck parade. Paul’s SVP of Insights at SwiftIQ, Chris has had great success with
third place finish his career in the business world. In his downtime, he enjoys
for classic cars was added to the chapter traveling to tropical destinations and catching a GT football
winning third place for their contraption. game. Married to his wife Stephanie for five years, they share
The chapter finished high in fraternity scoring two children, Ellie (4) and Cole (2).
and continues to have a strong presence on
campus, with lots of homecoming activities
at the chapter house, including roasting a pig. What are your favorite memories from consulting career, I decided to pursue consulting
Moreover, we have an impressive group of being an active chapter member of DU? and an MBA after a few years of work. Beyond
undergrads. I joined DU halfway through my time at Tech that, I didn’t have much of a plan.
Joe Brucella ’72 is gearing up for a big after meeting many of the DU guys through What inspired you to go for your MBA at
1950s – 1970s DU Reunion at next year’s high school friend and Tech roommate, Taylor Harvard?
homecoming. 2018 is a year to make a Ramos ’02. This was right when the new house I had lived my entire life in Atlanta going to
trip to Atlanta and catch up with all your opened—it was fun building, moving in and public schools and wanted to go to business
brothers. Please send us an email with scans constructing the lofts in the rooms. We threw school outside the southeast. Many of my
of any DU pictures you may have. We want what I think was the inaugural foam party. consulting colleagues had top tier MBAs (I
to put up a collage of DU “Pics from the The road trips to the GT away games are also didn’t even know what Tuck or Wharton were),
Past” at Homecoming. We will provide more at the top of the list: at UVA, Maryland, Navy, and I saw the great opportunities that experience
details about Joe’s plans once the university Florida, Clemson, and more (we were top 10 provided them. After having mixed success with
announces the 2018 homecoming schedule. with Joe Hamilton, and beat UGA three of my applications, my competitive juices kicked in
four years). and I called Bob McKeeman ’77 (GT, Harvard
I’m glad to report that we have 149 patents
listed on our initial DU GT Alumni Patent After graduating from Tech, what was MBA, and fellow DU alumnus) and decided I
composite. This 24 x 36 framed patent list your career goal? would pursue Harvard with his help.
will be presented to the chapter this week. If I went to Tech thinking throughout my childhood How has it impacted your professional
you are named in a design or utility patent, that I’d be an architect. However, I also grew choices?
please send us your patent numbers if you up in a family with small businesses, and once I The good thing about an experience like
have not done so already. We will do an took a finance class, I decided I liked math with Harvard is you meet everyone—from the son of
updated composite before rush for next year. “$” signs more than calculus symbols. From a farmer in Africa to the daughter of a United
there, based on advice from my friend’s father’s States president. You quickly realize you will
We had a small kitchen fire last week. There
were no injuries and the damage was minor, likely never have the most money or best title
with a cost of about $6,000 to repair. I’m very so you should do something you like. Warren
glad to report that all our fire protection gear Buffet spoke to our class and said we had “won
worked as it was supposed to work. There the ovarian lottery” and could do whatever we
was a charged fire extinguisher immediately wanted with our life—I took that to heart and
at hand, and the fire alarm went off and didn’t follow the herd to finance. A career you
notified Atlanta Fire Department. A couple don’t enjoy isn’t worth any amount of money.
of brothers were able to put out most of the Buffet said he has a pretty normal life, but he
fire before Atlanta Fire Department arrived does travel better than us!
and took care of a couple of hot spots in the What do you enjoy most about working in
kitchen ceiling joists. A repair contract has
been signed and the work should be completed merchandising?
by year-end. We are having a catering service Going back to my interest in architecture, I
Group photo from around 2000, when GT beat liked retail and merchandising because it is
(Continued on p. 4) Clemson on a last minute touchdown. (Continued on p. 4)

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