After five wonderful years at Cornell University, a job with Chevron brought me to San Francisco, where I later had the good fortune to attend Stanford's Graduate School of Business and build an entrepreneurial career in Silicon Valley. Worked for a number of start-ups as CFO, VP and President. Led management teams before selling companies to GTE and Lucent Technologies. I've been privileged to be at the right place at the right time.

Believing that life is less about acquiring things and more about valuing experiences, my wife and I have taken advantage of our flexibility to travel the world. At age 40, we threw caution to the wind and spent nine months traveling around the world. Almost three decades later, we moved to Europe for a year, splitting our time between Paris and London. From personal experience, I can tell you that the internet makes travel a lot easier. Easier to plan, to execute and to stay in touch with friends back home.

I am mindful that it all started with a first rate education … book smarts and street smarts. Thanks B-CC … instructors, friends and classmates. I’m also thankful that our American generation may have won the lottery of time and place.