Testimonials | Pawnshop Consulting Group, LLC.
We just had Jerry Whitehead as a consultant for one week as well (in early October 2008) in our six store pawn operation in Sacramento, California and we have only good things to say. We are very impressed by Jerry's professional manner and many insights. Jerry has natural ability to put people at ease even when he is collecting data and you never feel as though you are being interrogated, summed up or criticized.
There is no question that Jerry is an expert in the pawn industry and its many facets and has the ability to assist and advise your company on any number of concerns. His opinion is to be valued and appreciated, and not only his opinion and many insights but his concern and thoughtfulness to the needs and success of the company, its owners and its employees.
Jerry is thorough in his approach, as well as in the delivery of his advice for the advancement of your company. We look forward to a long and prosperous relationship and friendship with Jerry as we continue to grow our company. We have every confidence that Jerry's advice is a valued asset to our company today and into the future.
Thanks Jerry – Stan Lucowicz, Jr.
Just because the sun is shining and I'm in the mood, I wanted to take a moment and ad my a—kissing…I mean 3 cents worth, to the rest in regard to Mr. Whitehead. JW has been sharing info with this forum for quite a while and many of his suggestions have made money for many of us on here. I'd like to share another story about JW and pray his hat doesn't get any bigger.
Several months ago a mutual friend, who is wheelchair bound and no longer able to work his shop, called me saying his manager of 7 years was being forced to leave due to family reasons, and asked if I could lend him a hand until a new manager was found.
Walking into his shop I discovered that during the preceding months the manager hadn't been doing the job and the place was a complete mess. Little decent inventory for sale, mis-priced goods, loans walking out the door, just about every possible headache short of employee theft. I reported this to the owner who said to just fill the hole and let the new person deal with it. Since it was already mid May and no experienced manager was forthcoming, I called JW for some assistance. I was only able to stay in the shop for a week, but convinced the owner to pay JW's fees to bring him in for a spell to help me turn the place around and train whomever we found to be Manager.
When Jerry first quoted his fees I dropped my dentures and the owner about had a heart attack. Not having many options, the owner finally bit the bullet and allowed me to bring JW on board. This turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to this store.
Years ago this was the #1 store in the area, with quite a jewelry, tool & music business. For one reason or another the performance had dropped off bit by bit for some time, although the owner never mentioned it. By the time JW showed up, I was able to locate a potential manager, and both he & Jerry arrived on the same day. By that time I only had one day left in the shop. Jerry said to never mind and go as he would take over from there, which is what he did.
When I came back for an inspection a month later, I found an entirely different store. JW had hired the new guy on a trial basis, the shop had been spit shined, new merchandise was everywhere, the loan balance had already increased substantially, the owner was crapping his pants for all the money JW was spending, and the new manager absolutely hated Jer (always a good sign). When I asked why he was spending so much on inventory and didn't he think he should old back until we re-built the loan book, he smiled and said he would have, but he needed the goods to make sales (3/4 of the stuff he'd ordered had already sold at 2.5 key). Once we showed the new guy that JW wasn't "spending", but "investing", and that the owner wasn't going to fire him for using up his bankroll, he calmed down and began paying attention. Even after JW left, he continued to call and baby sit the new guy, even though he was off the clock.
By the end of his 90 day trial, the manager was kept on, the loan book had doubled (without a change in defaults), sales had increased significantly, and customers were commenting on how nice the shop looked and how pleased they were to see it look like old times.
I should mention that even though they didn't know it, "old times" was back when Jerry's brother Bobby ran the place. Their daddy turned out a couple of truly professional pawn brokers in those boys.
I just wanted to share this with y'all. If any of you out there are thinking there might be a hole or 2 in your business plan, or that you'd like to increase your business and not sure how to go about it, and may be scared off by what seems a high price to pay for his services, I can only tell you that whatever he charges you will come back multiplied when he gets done. Of course, he may fire you while he's there, and you may lose a few employees, but by the time he leaves you will be pleased. Heck, if he could get that kind of money out of a couple of cheapskate guys like the owner and I, and make us want to pay more to keep him on even longer, well, he can put a smile on anyone's face.
When we first decided to venture into the Pawn Shop business in late 2008, we looked for a consultant who could assist us in evaluating the business. After many calls to people in the industry, one name kept coming up as the leading expert in the field, Jerry Whitehead. We called Jerry and laid out our plan to open a store on a small remote island that did not presently have a Pawn Shop. Instead of simply saying great and taking our fee, he asked many thoughtful questions about why we thought the business would be successful and agreed to help us analyze the market before we dove in. In addition, he came down personally to the island to assess the market and help us determine the best way to move forward with a limited budget.
To sum up the results, with Jerry's help and contact base, we were able to get the shop open in less than 90 days. We were "PROFITABLE" the first month of operations, grew our loan book to over $300K in the first quarter and established our reputation with the local community and law enforcement agencies as a "no nonsense" operator who does it the right way. Without Jerry's help, there is no way we could have achieved the profitability, community acceptance and favorable local press as a newbie to this industry.
In the months following our opening, Jerry has provided consistent support by guiding us with subsequent training support materials to insure we stay on the right path to maximize our business. He has always taken the initiative to stay in touch and frequently helped us navigate through the nuances encountered when doing business in a foreign land without the normal resources available to other operations. He has never taken the opportunity to extract additional fees from our fledgling operation so I consider him more a partner than a consultant.
With Jerry's help, we will be opening our second store early in 2010 and we could not be more enthusiastic about the future of our business during these turbulent economic times. We could not be more satisfied with Jerry.
I am writing to thank you for the consulting services you provided in September of 2007. We enjoyed your visit with us and would like to congratulate you on a job well done. We especially appreciate the detailed nineteen page report you wrote for us and the insightful analysis it contains. The entire report is sharp and incisive. In particular, we welcome your observations about the structure of the short-term loan industry and how we might better improve our place in it, as well as the detailed comments you provided on individual stores and personnel. Also of great value are your remarks concerning making better use of the technology we currently have available to us, both in order to reduce costs and to ensure the safety of our personnel.
Alvin Bell, Jr., Belcorp, Inc.
We have used Pawnshop Consulting Group many times over the years for special projects needing a high level of specialized expertise in the pawn industry. Most recently, they were instrumental during the acquisition phase of a multi-store operation including the initial evaluation, audit of assets and technical expertise regarding regulatory issues to get the transaction done. The professionalism, integrity and knowledge of Pawnshop Consulting Group makes them our only choice.
CEO – Lombard Financial Services, L.P.
Speaking of Jerry Whitehead ………………….. …………………1 called Jerry earlier this year and asked if he would be willing to come to the Texas Association of Pawnbrokers convention and do a seminar. Not only did he agree to come but actually did TWO seminars on HR issues and breaking down the numbers to better analyze our business's and increase our yields.
When I asked Jerry what the cost of having him come in was, he responded………………………just get me a room and get me some food!
This to me is a testament to the type of person Jerry is, to be willing to travel to Texas and give of himself, unselfishly to help other pawnbrokers better their business and their staff and increase profits at basically his own expense.
Need more be said, yes ….. Thanks Jerry!
My three sons and I have a single store on the California coast, which has grown beyond our shoot-from-the-hip management style. We needed new and better systems and more understanding of our financials, but it seemed there was never enough time in the day to tackle it. It was as if we were trying to steer our ship from down in the engine room, hoping we were still going in the right direction. My dream for this business is that it will continue to be a source of connection and opportunity for future generations of my family, but we needed help.
When we contracted with Jerry to visit us in February of 2010, we had three months to prepare. We took that time to make changes we knew we needed so that Jerry could focus on things we didn't know about. Just knowing he was coming lit a fire under us and led to so much progress, we got our money's worth before he even walked in the door! But the best was yet to come.
Jerry is a numbers guy. He went over our financials with us for the last 4 years, showing us exactly what was happening with our loan and inventory yields. Like a lot of single store operations, we were in love with our profit margins and misunderstood inventory turns, which tells how much you actually make on your inventory. And we were sitting on gold, which hurt our inventory performance even more.
Jerry understood that our connection to each other as a family is very important to us, but there are always family dynamics in every family business. He fearlessly, tactfully and effectively navigated those waters, and our family is stronger, as well as the business, because of Jerry's help.
We spent a lot of time on the showroom floor, going over layout, fixtures, and merchandizing. It was a little embarrassing. Did we really need to display every single rope and figaro chain we owned, or all 23 of our sawzalls (each one tagged in a different place)? Chainsaws in the front window? Oh yeah, that'll bring the ladies in, for sure. Stocking new product when we can't get enough used? What a concept! We're a busy store, but that's a pretty lame excuse for the neglect we were inflicting on ourselves and our customers.
On Jerry's last day with us, he gave a motivational presentation to our entire staff, sharing much of the information he'd gone over with us owners. We have a great staff, and it's important to us that they have opportunities to meet their personal goals here. That's not always money, but money helps, so we drafted a productivity commission program with Jerry that was part of his presentation. The effect on our team was electric, that they could be in charge of how much money they make. We're still hammering out the details of this program to fit our store, but everyone is energized and we already see improvements in customer service.
Although Jerry is a business consultant, we came to realize he has a higher calling, to use his special talents to help make the world a better place. He reminded us that the pawn business gives us privileged opportunities to help people in need, and there are times when there's no money in it; it's just the right thing to do. He certainly left our little corner of the world a better place than when he came. If you are considering bringing Jerry to your store, I recommend doing it soon. He's very generous with information on the NPA forum, but it's no substitute for the real thing. It might be the best money you ever spent.
The praising of Jerry Whitehead may become old to some but I have to add my two cents now that he has consulted our company.
I have been in the pawn business for over 16 years. I have basically self taught myself the business. It may not have been the correct way but was what I thought was for the best. I had gotten to a point of total burnout and had no motivation to continue in the business. I had no clear goals or expectations for our company. I never thought I needed help and figured no one would be willing to help others like I now see they do. I set my stubbornness and narrow sightedness aside and finally joined the National Pawnbrokers Association in March of 2008. I dove into the member's forum and learned more than I thought was possible from everyone's ideas and arguments. One thing I kept noticing was all the praise Jerry was getting and decided it was my turn to get a little advice. I emailed Jerry and found out all the details of what I needed to do to get him here. I found out he was booked for quite a few months out. I now know this is due to how really good he is at what he does.
Jerry came the first week of February and we started right away going over our business from top to bottom. First thing we did was do some dark shopping at all of our locations. To say the least, I was embarrassed at the results. It is amazing what you will learn about your team members that you would have never thought possible. We moved on to a questionnaire Jerry had me fill out that gives him an idea about the way we run our business. He started tweaking the way the business was going to transform into right away. Jerry spent more hours going over every aspect of our company than I ever thought he would. I remember thinking over and over I am DEFINATELY getting my money worth here. The next few days Jerry worked with all team members and observed our daily routines and procedures. Next to the last day, he brought all the team members together for a meeting. The meeting was not only informative but very motivational. The last day Jerry spent with us was going over everything he had learned from observing our business and the direction we could be heading if we put into action the different things he taught us throughout the week. He left me with the ability to plan, organize, and execute goals. He left our team members with such a better understanding of many of the aspects of the business which previously I was afraid to disclose with them. Jerry showed me how not disclosing some aspects of the business was actually hindering the growth of our business.
It has been two months since Jerry has been gone. Results: February was our company's largest sales month in 16 years. March was our biggest sales month for the month of March and the biggest loan month for March we have ever seen. Most importantly, I feel motivated, focused, and ready to go at least another 16 years.
Is Jerry still available to help me? You bet. He is there when needed. He has shown me that he is willing to go above and beyond.
We are about 40% of the way into getting all the tools into action that Jerry has brought to our company. I can only imagine what will happen once I get everything he taught us going.
I just want to give Jerry a big West Texas THANK YOU for all you have done for our company. Thanks again for helping me get my desire back. It would be an honor to see you come again and take us to the next level.
We just had Jerry Whitehead out last month (September 2008) as a pawn consultant at the advice of many NPA forum members. He spent a week here surveying our operations from top to bottom. Among many things, he analyzed our financials and opened our eyes up to a number of ways in which we could increase our bottom line, and he gave us a great metric for measuring our profit margin in the future.
He did a lot of role playing with our team members to help improve their customer service and sales skills. At the end of the week, he gave an inspirational presentation to our entire crew, summing up many of his finding about our organization and about the business, and he gave them a reason to be proud of the profession they are in. In all, we are glad we had him out and felt it was well worth the money.
As a software provider to our industry, we sometimes have the privilege of recommending other excellent vendors to potential clients/buyers. I would encourage all members to develop strategic referrals with people that you are confident that they will provide exceptional service. This referral may be another pawnshop, an insurance agent, a jeweler or a printer. Depending on the situation, software may be the "first" decision after licensing and store selection or a decision that takes many years. I wanted to take a moment to discuss a particular vendor and how good he will make you look if you refer his services.
Most recently, I had the pleasure of recommending Jerry Whitehead from Pawnshop Consulting Group to an existing customer who had only amazing things to say about his knowledge, follow-up, professional advice and results. Plain and simple, Jerry will make you look good. His selflessness leadership and the level of information he provides and shares is simply amazing.
Our Association and Membership benefits with every response he sends on the Forum. If you are looking to improve your business and don't know quite how to do it, please consider calling Jerry Whitehead about your own business or recommend him to someone that could utilize his services and make their business more profitable.
As my client stated: "He assisted us on all facets of our business… Improving the store look and feel, staff training, future vision, an exit strategy, my internal systems and many other aspects of my business improved as a direct result of his guidance".
When Jerry is onsite, he made me feel like I could open another 10 stores with the systems that he implements and puts into place. Quite simply, if I could hire him permanently, I would, but he said no.
Jerry- Thanks for doing what you do great job and thanks for making all of us look good and helping us to be better business people.
CompuPawn Software-Vertical Computer Systems, Inc.
All of you have benefited from Jerry Whitehead's information that he posts regularly to National Pawnbrokers Association forum. In addition to these posts, I have sat through several of Jerry Whitehead's seminars at the pawn conventions over the years. His experience and knowledge of the pawn business impressed me so much that I hired him to consult with my stores. Jerry spent a week pouring over the details of my operation on his initial visit back in 2007.
He offered many suggestions that have already more than paid for his fee. He gave my store managers a personalized seminar based on our operation. This blew me away. It was the best seminar that I have ever attended. I highly endorse Jerry and implore any of you wishing to grow your business to invest in a week consulting with Jerry. You will not be disappointed. Feel free to email me directly if you wish any further information.
I have since contracted Jerry several more times over the past couple of years. I am happy to report that with his guidance and following many of the operational protocols he designed for us, Net Revenue in my core existing stores has increased by more than 70% over the past 2 years. This is in stores that in most cases have been operational 15 years +. The results have been outstanding, our existing loan balances in the core stores is also up collectively over 100% between 2007 and 2008. The results and profitability increases have been enormous.
My investment in my business and Mr. Whitehead has proven themselves over and over again, and our business model continues to grow with Jerry's continued consulting role with our organization.
Early in (2007) we contacted Mr. Whitehead to consult with our family on our operations both here and abroad. Our family runs a multi-unit chain of stores in excess of 40 units in several countries and has been at it for more than 45 years.
Jerry has proven to be beyond immeasurable in our overall understanding of our operations and improving their overall profitability substantially. Just in the 3 stores we have in Miami that have been operating for close to 20 years, Jerry increased our overall annual net-revenues by more than 60% in 2007 which far exceeded our prior 5 year averages and they continue to grow to this day.
His expertise in our multi unit pawn chain of 40+ stores based in Colombia and Costa Rica that has been operational for more than 40 years has been outstanding. Our loan and inventory yields in all those markets have increased by more than 20% across the board consistently over the past several years with his continued guidance and supervision.
Our business faces many challenges on many fronts and Jerry has been an immense addition to our numerous challenges both here and abroad and he has been there for us more times than once!
His expertise, professionalism and skills have not only proven themselves to us, we contract Jerry on a routine basis to continue to guide and measure our performance. Your investment in your business and Jerry will PROVE to be a wonderful benefit!
We no longer refer to him as a consultant, Jerry is family and is appreciated very much for his sincere and caring attitude not only for his clients, but for his friends, family and the industry as well.
I just wanted to pass on some information to you all. This is my first time on the forum. Many of us have had the opportunity to learn a thing or two from Jerry Whitehead. He is a contributor to the NPA in too many ways to list here.
We were very fortunate to have Jerry spend a week with us. He visited our six stores, spoke to our employees and completed a thorough evaluation of our operation. He wrapped up the week with a meeting that included our employees. He spent time explaining his background and gave an informative class on how to meet, greet, qualify and take care of a customer. He gave us information that is going to make a significant difference in our business.
He provided a very extensive written overview of our operation that will help improve our company now and in the future. We are looking forward to having Jerry back in a few months for a follow up. If any of you are looking for a way to improve your business may I suggest you call Jerry with any question you may have. I guarantee that he will be of great help and ready to listen.
We own 2 pawnshops located 11 miles apart. We opened our first store in 1978 while the other was opened in 1989. It seems I hit a brick wall with growth several years ago as our stores have struggled with cash flow in a major way. While desperately looking for suggestions in January 2007 I turned to my roots of Pawnbroking. I remembered several years ago being on the forum, learning volumes from pawnbrokers, and thinking outside the box. When I signed up for the forum in early 2007 I noticed several brilliant emails from a fellow named Jerry Whitehead. Our stores hummed along the first 3 months while we were riding high on the cash flow of "early income tax refund checks" from our pawners. After the cash ran out we hit the cash flow brick-wall.
Jerry agreed to visit our small towns and shops and stay for the week. I'll never forget the anxiety and excitement I felt when I picked him up from the airport. His consultant work can be compared to a visit to the principal's and a religious-experience. Not only did Jerry completely turn our business around in 1 short week, he energized our staff, improved my attitude, helped cure my burnout for the stores, and gave me a renewed sense of pride in being a pawnbroker. My main point is the NPA needs small town pawnbrokers like KK's Loans, Music, and Jewelry as much as they need friends and consultants like Jerry Whitehead. The forum has proved invaluable to us as a business tool.
Next, I do not agree with every forum article I read nor does every article apply to us. However, Will I continue to attend the National Conventions, read the forum, and learn all I can about Pawnbroking-ABSOLUTELY!
In closing, a big thank-you to the NPA for the forum, Jerry Whitehead for helping our business grow again, and all of you pawnbrokers with years of experience and knowledge that share your wisdom on the forum.
KK's Loans, Music, & Jewelry, Inc.
If you think this advice is good, you should have Jerry to your store. He just came up to Rhode Island at the beginning of Nov of 2009 for a week long stay and his recommendations are already paying off. He really knows how to crunch the numbers and knows where to recommend improvements to make more money. In just 1 month we have already increased our loan yields by 50% which will in turn make us a lot more money over the years. We haven't even implemented all if his ideas yet, but he has opened our eyes to plenty of other ways to make money in this business. If you haven't had Jerry out to do an analysis of your business, DO IT. It is well worth the investment and will pay for itself in no time at all.


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FC Cincinnati announces loan deal for Swedish international Pa Konate from Serie A club SPAL
Pa Konate is a 24-year-old left back with Champions League appearances and international caps with Sweden.
FC Cincinnati announces loan deal for Swedish international Pa Konate from Serie A club SPAL Pa Konate is a 24-year-old left back with Champions League appearances and international caps with Sweden. Check out this story on cincinnati.com: https://cin.ci/2Manu28
Charlie Hatch, chatch@enquirer.com Published 3:56 p.m. ET July 31, 2018 | Updated 3:11 p.m. ET Aug. 1, 2018
New team signees Fenando Adi and Fatai Alashe pose with (left to right) general manage Jeff Berding, owner Carl Lindner III, team manager Alan Koch and technical director Luke Sassano.(Photo: Sam Greene, )
Futbol Club Cincinnati made its third summer signing Wednesday when it announced the arrival of Pa Konate on loan from SPAL, a club in Italy's Serie A.
He'll remain with FC Cincinnati through the 2018 United Soccer League season and there is an option to buy the player.
Though 24, Konate is one of Cincinnati's most-experienced additions to date and could be an impressive coup for the club if the loan move is successful.
Already a Swedish international with six national team caps, Konate made his professional debut with Malmö FF in 2013, one of the biggest clubs in the country. Between 2013-17, the left back made 56 appearances for the team. He also had a loan spell with Östers Idrottsförening during that time.
In 2017 he joined SPAL in Italy but failed to make a league appearance for the club and only has two appearances in Coppa Italia.
Joining FC Cincinnati means an opportunity for playing time he didn't receive at the Italian club. If the loan goes well, Cincinnati just signed a younger left back with Champions League experience who could potentially join the side in Major League Soccer in 2019.
"I have to come here to prove myself and show them I should start," Konate said. "That's how it is. No one can tell you that you're gonna start. You have to prove yourself."
More: FC Cincinnati to introduce two MLS signings Monday
More: Fatai Alashe and FC Cincinnati are equally important for one another in USL and MLS
More: Alan Koch signs coaching extension until 2020, will be FC Cincinnati's MLS coach
The defender said talks with head coach Alan Koch helped him agree to the loan. He also said he's impressed with FC Cincinnati's high attendance figures and the opportunity to join the USL club now, make an impact and potentially earn an MLS roster spot.
"I don't feel like I'm that young," Konate said. "I'm 24. I've been playing a lot. I've been playing important games in high level so I don't feel young in that kinda way."
Maybe not young for European teams, he's immediately one of Cincinnati's youngest players.
"Part of our strategy is to find players that have also been (undervalued) in their situation where a new coach has come in or the system of play has changed," FC Cincinnati technical director Luke Sassano said. "With Pa, we've been watching him a little bit.
"He hasn't played as much in Serie A, but we knew him from Malmö and playing in the Champions League. I always knew about him. I also have a couple close friends who recommended him."
Sassano suggested Konate is a signing for the present, meaning he's not a guarantee for the MLS team. On Monday, Cincinnati unveiled its first two MLS signings, forward Fanendo Adi and defensive midfielder Fatai Alashe in a press conference at Nippert Stadium.
How Konate fits into FC Cincinnati's 2018 plans
The defender said he hasn't been guaranteed anything, and that includes a starting spot. For someone who hasn't played a league match since 2017 with Malmö, getting match-ready is the priority.
Eventually, Konate will compete with Blake Smith for the starting left back role.
Smith has been an integral part of FC Cincinnati's current 10-game unbeaten spell in USL play. This season, he's started in 18 of the team's 21 league matches.
FC Cincinnati sits first in the USL Eastern Conference with 44 points, which is six ahead of second-place Charleston Battery.
There's competition with Lance Laing as well, although the Jamaican fullback hasn't played a league game since a 2-2 draw with Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC on April 21. He did play vs. RCD Espanyol this past Saturday in Cincinnati's international friendly, however.
"Pa is a very attack-minded full back," Sassano said. "He's played with the Swedish national team, he played at an Olympics before. He's had a lot of experience for the age of 24. He'll get forward.
"The best part about Pa for me is his mentality. He's coming here to compete. He knows he hasn't played much in the last year and he's taking a risk in his career to come to a new environment and an already-established winning culture."
What Koch said of Konate
"He's a great player," the coach said. "He wouldn't have been signed by a Serie A team if he wasn't a great player. He obviously had limited playing time there and I think this is a great opportunity for him and a great opportunity for us to look at him and see how he comes in and works with our group."
FC Cincinnati's second-year coach also said he can join the club in MLS if he proves himself.
"To be honest, he could be a player who could, if he seizes the opportunity, be with us for a long, long time," Koch said. "That's why it's exciting to see how he responds the next few weeks."

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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May 23, 2011 / 6:14 AM / 8 years ago
Special Report - Inside Tepco's bailout: Japan Inc saves its own
Taro Fuse, Taiga Uranaka, Rie Ishiguro
TOKYO (Reuters) - In a choreographed act of contrition, Masataka Shimizu, the president of Tokyo Electric Power, bowed deeply and resigned to take responsibility for the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.
An aerial view of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station is seen in Fukushima Prefecture in this photo taken by Air Photo Service on March 24, 2011. Tokyo Electric on May 20, 2011 announced a $15 billion loss for the fiscal year that ended in March with three of its reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant still smoldering from a meltdown and a fourth full of dangerous uranium fuel rods at risk of collapse. REUTERS/Air Photo Service/Files
From the outside, the news conference on Friday appeared to follow the familiar script for a Japanese corporate shaming. But behind the scenes, it also represented the successful culmination of a period of intensive deal-making by Tokyo Electric, its powerful allies in Japan's bureaucracy and its main bank.
Those closed-door talks began just three weeks after the March 11 earthquake and concluded with an extraordinary deal that guarantees the embattled utility's solvency, people involved in the talks said.
Tokyo Electric on Friday announced a $15 billion (9 billion pounds) loss for the fiscal year that ended in March with three of its reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant still smoldering from a meltdown and a fourth full of dangerous uranium fuel rods at risk of collapse.
The loss was the largest ever reported by a Japanese company outside the banking sector and reflected the first payment towards a clean-up bill seen as potentially six times bigger than the BP's payout after the disastrous 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
But the outcome was still far better than the alternative Tokyo Electric executives had most feared.
The company, which once ranked as the world's largest private utility, was able to report that loss because it had won a pledge of government support that relieved the concern of Chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata about how auditors would view its Fukushima liability, according to the people involved in the preparations.
As importantly, Tokyo Electric and its main bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, had succeeded in selling a compensation plan for the Fukushima nuclear accident that gave bondholders and creditor banks a shot at a free ride while avoiding a more wrenching restructuring of the utility, the sources say.
Shimizu, 66, announced his resignation near the darkened command centre on the second floor of Tokyo Electric's headquarters where he had disappeared in the second week of the crisis after the March 11 earthquake.
After being briefly hospitalized for exhaustion after the disaster and widely criticized for his lack of leadership, Shimizu had come back for a round of ritual apologies for Fukushima evacuees and the resignation.
"We want to sincerely apologise for our nuclear reactors in Fukushima causing so much anxiety, worry and trouble to society," the outgoing president said.
Tokyo Electric shareholders, including its banks, have lost a combined $36 billion since March 11, but the deal struck by the utility spared them a complete wipeout in bankruptcy.
In a series of interviews, a dozen people involved in the discussions that led to the plan to compensate Fukushima victims announced last week by the government of Prime Minister Naoto Kan, described how the utility widely known as Tepco won a government declaration that it was too big to fail at a time when its survival had been in question.
Their account provides a rare look into a policy decision by the Japanese government in the midst of the nation's most dire peacetime crisis and shows how the consensus hardened around an old-school Japanese approach that appeals to public burden sharing at the same time that it protects powerful financial interests.
In the process, Wall Street banks that had proposed a tougher-line restructuring like the bankruptcy of General Motors by the Obama administration were shut out.
So too were those inside the Japanese government who wanted to see a market-driven restructuring of Tepco or an outright nationalization, according to the people involved in the discussions who asked not to be named.
Part of the calculation was a view that political opponents of the bailout would remain too fragmented to block its adoption in parliament and the Japanese media would not aggressively question a plan that promised to speed payouts to victims of the disaster, one of the principal architects of the plan said.
In the end, Kan - who had exploded in anger at Tepco officials in the first days of the nuclear crisis and promised a more open approach to containing it - was persuaded to support a plan to save the utility that had come together entirely behind closed doors.
Critics of the plan say it leaves the Japanese government on the hook for a higher share of the costs of the Fukushima clean-up, threatens to dampen innovation and new investment by Japan's utilities and opens the door to both higher taxes and higher electricity rates, issues likely to be raked over in the coming parliamentary debate on the plan.
"Everyone needs to be comfortable about leaving public money at risk and essentially letting investors and lenders have a free ride, especially when they were the owners of the enterprise on whose watch catastrophe occurred," said Peter Kaufman, a restructuring expert and president of the New York-based Gordian Group.
THE DISSIDENT
When Shigeaki Koga sat down to write his plan on how to pay the massive clean-up bill for Fukushima, he knew he was also writing what could become a career-ending suicide note.
After more than three decades at the powerful Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Koga, 55, was prepared to do something he knew his superiors would view as unforgivable at a government agency seen as an icon of both Japan's post-war success and its deep-seated resistance to change.
In an 18-page, single-spaced memo, Koga picked apart the logic of the backroom deal his ministry was shepherding to save Tokyo Electric Power from bankruptcy because of the mounting liability from the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex.
By that point, there was little sign that Tokyo Electric was having much success in bringing Fukushima under control. Radiation levels in nearby seawater were spiking and many outside experts had come to a conclusion that Japan's largest utility would only acknowledge six weeks later: three of the Fukushima reactors had gone into a meltdown after being struck by the 9.0 magnitude earthquake and 14-metre tsunami.
The accident had snarled and slowed Japan's response to the damage along its northeastern coast from the disaster. About 25,000 people were missing or dead from the earthquake and tsunami. With nearby evacuation shelters already packed, another 80,000 residents near Fukushima would be driven from their homes because of the threat of radiation.
Farmers were ordered to destroy an early harvest of crops ranging from cabbage to tea as radiation moved through the food chain. Abandoned chickens died in their coops, and feral cows roamed the streets of one town in the "no-go" evacuation zone until they could be put down by agriculture officials in protective white suits.
With no sign of an end to the crisis in sight, a group of Japanese officials in economic policy Tokyo went to work on a pressing question: Who would pay for this?
Estimates for the cost of the compensation to be paid by displaced residents and disrupted business ranged as high as $130 billion in an extended crisis, according to one calculation by Bank of America-Merrill Lynch.
By comparison, BP earmarked just $20 billion for its oil-spill clean-up fund run by an overseer appointed by the Obama administration.
Koga, who began studying the compensation question on his own, had enjoyed a career typical of senior METI officials until that point. A graduate of Tokyo University with a degree from its law department, he had joined the agency in 1980. That marked the high-water mark of the ministry's reputation and came just as an American researcher Chalmers Johnson, was finishing an influential book that would credit the ministry with a central role in engineering Japan's "economic miracle" that began in the 1950s.
As a fast-track prospect, Koga had been dispatched to South Africa, sent to work on U.S. trade talks and dispatched to the OECD in Paris before ending up back in Tokyo, where in 2003, he helped create new agency set up to speed the restructuring of "zombie" Japanese companies like retailer Daiei and cosmetics maker Kanebo.
Koga had seen that tough-love restructuring worked first-hand and saw no reason it should not be applied to Tepco. In fact, he worried that leaving Tepco under a decade of government oversight would deprive it of the funds and dynamism it would need.
Instead, shareholders and creditors should be first in line to sacrifice and Japan's largest utility should be put through bankruptcy, he argued.
Then, he said, the utility's senior executives should be fired, salaries and pensions should be slashed and its Tokyo headquarters — just a short walk from the ministry that had long protected it — should be sold.
At that point, Tepco should relocate to Fukushima "since the first priority should be payments to the victims of the nuclear crisis," Koga said. A failure to push that kind of restructuring would mean that taxpayers would end up paying as much as $60 billion more in clean-up costs, he warned in an April 5 memo that began to circulate among politicians over the next week and prompted a warning from his superiors at the ministry.
By email and in person, they asked him to stop. One senior official told him that it was "hard to watch" him behave in this way. He was accused him of shameless self-promotion. Others outside the ministry offered support.
Looking back, Koga knew he was fighting a rear-guard action against long odds. Tokyo Electric and its allies already had their bailout plan in the works, he had learned.
"It appeared to me that Tokyo Electric and the banks were exerting strong influence and that the scheme was going in the wrong direction," he told Reuters. "I thought I should relay all this to the public and get people to correctly understand the issues. That would make it easier for the government to make the right decisions, even if there was a lot of undue pressure to do otherwise."
By early April, the Japanese government's "team Tepco" was already coming together in the darkened corner on the second-floor of a building attached to METI, according to participants.
Most lights in the building had been turned off to save electricity and set an example in conservation because of the loss of the Fukushima reactors. Only one elevator was left in service and the only light in hallway came from a vending machine heavy on caffeinated beverages like canned coffee and energy drinks.
As a 40-member team of officials met to consider how to pay for the economic damage for the Fukushima disaster, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency was holding twice-a-day briefings for reporters just upstairs on steps being taken to bring the reactors under control.
Although the Tepco working group included representatives of Japan's finance and agricultural ministries, it was understood that the show would be run by the senior METI official, Shinsuke Kitagawa, a veteran of the ministry's influential energy bureau.
In the buttoned-down, elitist culture of METI, Kitagawa represented something of an outlier. A graduate of Keio University rather than Tokyo University, his career included a long-shot effort in 2007 to convince Gulf States including Abu Dhabi that they should prepare for "post-oil" future by investing heavily in Japanese solar and oil recovery technology.
For the emergency Tepco project, Kitagawa had a clear mandate. The starting point was that Tepco would be spared bankruptcy because it could jeopardize its ability to proceed with repairs to its reactors and make payouts to victims while demoralizing its workers.
At that point, Tepco's main bank, SMBC, stepped in with a proposal that crystallized the consensus and became the outline for the government's plan, people in the discussions said.
As a regional monopoly representing a third of Japan's electricity demand and its most populous area, Tepco had long enjoyed the ability to spend money on everything from steel, to fleets of vehicles to TV commercials without haggling on price. That made it one the most prized customers for a range of industries, analysts say, including banking.
The former Mitsui bank had ties to Tepco going back to at least the fast-growth period of 1950s defined by shared capital and a history of mutual reliance in hard times.
By 1998, the Mitsui bank had merged to become Sakura Bank and was facing a growing bad loan problem. As part of the rescue, Tepco and other Mitsui-affiliated companies agreed to buy shares to help shore up the bank's capital.
By late March, the bank, Japan's third-largest lender after a merger with Sumitomo, was determined to return the favour at a time of crisis for Tepco by leading a syndicate for a $25-billion loan that looked like the world's riskiest deal on paper.
With Tepco's stock plunging and its credit rating on the cusp of junk status, Masayuki Oku, chairman of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, met with METI Vice Minister Kazuo Matsunaga, in late March, Oku.
"It's true we exchanged opinions," said Oku, who is also chairman of the Japanese bankers association.
The meeting itself was seen as a way for the ministry to signal that it would not push for a hard-landing for Tepco, clearing the way for SMBC and other banks to offer new loans without the threat of imminent bankruptcy.
"I didn't want to believe that this was happening," said METI's Koga, who said he was spurred to write his dissent in part because of the rumour that his agency's most senior official had offered a tacit guarantee to new bank loans. "Why would the banks ignore risk like this?"
In the end, the $25-billion loan deal for Tepco, which included Mitsubishi UFJ, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc and Mizuho Financial Group Inc, was announced on April 11.
Around the same time, Nobuaki Kurumatani, a veteran Mitsui banker who had shot up the ranks at SMBC, sat down with the Kitagawa-led team studying Tepco with a short proposal that became the core of the plan approved by Kan's government a month later, documents show.
The SMBC plan proposed creating a nuclear compensation agency that other regional utilities would pay into much like banks paying deposit insurance. Banks, including SMBC, would make loans to the agency with a government guarantee, a source of new business for the lenders.
At the same time, the Kurumatani proposal capped the amount of compensation that Tepco would be forced to pay to roughly $8 billion over 10 years, a fraction of the projected total cost.
Everything in the plan won the endorsement of team Tepco — except the way it capped Tepco's payouts, according to documents and statements by officials. That proved contentious.
A number of Wall Street banks pitched for an alternative to the bailout, including proposals that would have split off a shell company to handle Tepco's unresolved liabilities, much as the U.S. government did with GM, the sources said.
But Kurumatani put the word out that proposals from the non-Japanese banks were not welcome. There would be no investment banking fees. The message from SMBC: If you are bringing a proposal to restructure Tepco, you might as well turn around and go home.
Kurumatani and a pair of other colleagues quietly visited lawmakers from the ruling Democratic Party to lobby for the plan, according to a legislative aide. It was clear that the plan could not win support in the face of growing public anger without an open-ended commitment to compensation. ("They're like ninja," the aide said of the SMBC bankers. "They come to visit, but they don't leave footprints.")
Yukio Edano, the government's chief cabinet secretary, had become the face of the Kan government for millions of Japanese voters because of his regular, televised briefings on the disaster response.
Always wearing the blue work jacket that ministers donned during the early days of the crisis, Edano had won plaudits for his unflappable cool and his dedication to the job. At one point, he slept in his office for four straight nights.
Edano had also emerged as a sharp critic of Tepco, blasting its disclosure policy and criticizing executives for not understanding "the social position in which they now find themselves."
But an open-ended commitment to pay compensation was unacceptable to Tepco Chairman Katsumata, who had become the acting chief executive after Shimizu's collapse and helped steady the utility's headquarters leadership team.
"There is no way that our auditors are going to approve a sky's-the-limit compensation plan," he told reporters outside his home earlier this month.
Tepco was in a corner. A poll showed 74 percent of Japanese voters disapproved of its handling of the nuclear crisis.
But despite its weakened political pull, the utility still had another card to play. A 1961 law that established the legal framework for Japan's nuclear industry also provided that power plant operators would not be liable "when the damage is caused by an extraordinarily grave natural disaster."
If the government pushed a hard-line, Tepco could take its case to the courts. "We're confident that we would win, even if it meant going all the way to the highest appeal," one company executive involved in the discussions said.
In the end, the Kitagawa team found a compromise that gave both sides some of what they wanted and broke a logjam that had delayed the announcement of the plan by over a week.
The compensation to be paid out would be unlimited, but that was made irrelevant by a new phrase slipped into the government's plan as announced on March 13: "nuclear plant operators will not be made insolvent."
A government-directed bankruptcy for Tepco had been taken off the table.
CREATING A ZOMBIE
In the days after the Fukushima compensation plan was announced, Edano and business leaders continued to spar over what it meant for Tepco's creditors. That risk still loomed large for major banks.
SMBC had an estimated $11 billion in exposure to Tepco after the April lending round, according to CreditSights. The analysis service put the total for Mizuho Corp. at the equivalent of $8.5 billion and $5.8 billion for Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi.
On the same day that the Tepco plan was announced, Edano said that the government would have trouble "gaining public understanding" unless SMBC and other banks walked away from some of what they were owed from pre-quake loans to Tepco.
Japanese bankers and business leaders united in denouncing the suggestion.
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group President Katsunori Nagayasu said he found the call by Edano "sudden and strange." Japan Airlines Chief Executive Kazuo Inamori, brought in as part of that airline's restructuring in bankruptcy, said Edano was asking for something extraordinary outside bankruptcy, a step it had rejected.
"A debt waiver is possible when the company has failed and has been put through bankruptcy proceedings. I'm no expert but seeking a debt waiver for a company that hasn't failed might be a problem," said Inamori, who is also the founder of Kyocera.
But even with that debate still simmering, the chance for a wholesale restructuring of Tepco had passed, many critics had concluded. Tepco said on Friday it would sell assets worth about $7 billion, but that fell short of the more sweeping change some had urged.
"My deepest wish is to see Tepco put through a bankruptcy," said Akira Tokuhiro, a former Japanese nuclear researcher who believes it will take a restructuring on that order to shore up the utility's attention to safety. "But it looks like that wish is going to end as a wish."
Others worry that a decade of government oversight will leave Tepco as another Japanese corporate "zombie," unable to make new investments and drive innovation in areas like "smart grid" technology that promise improved efficiency and better support for electric vehicles.
"This leaves Tokyo Electric neither dead or alive," said Tatsunari Iida, director of the non-profit Institute for Sustainable Energy Policies. "They would have been better off going through bankruptcy."
Meanwhile, METI's Koga, who had argued unsuccessfully for just that option said he was prepared to be stripped of work and responsibility at the ministry after his dissent.
"They can't fire me for expressing my opinion, but it's going to be a very cold atmosphere," he said. "If it goes on like that, I may have to consider my options."
(Additional reporting by Nathan layne, Linda Sieg, Yoshifumi Takemoto, Osamu Tsukimori, Noriyuki Hirata, Kentaro Hamada and Kevin Krolicki; writing by Kevin Krolicki)
Editing by Bill Tarrant


text:
Crime | January 6, 2014
10 Exemplary Tales Of Ex-Convicts Who Turned Their Lives Around
by Marc V.
The new year is a symbolic rebirth—a chance to discard past follies and focus on the endless opportunities of the incoming year. As easy as that sounds right now, it's actually hard to put it into practice for normal people. Imagine how much more difficult it must be for ex-criminals who must face insurmountable challenges if they want to get their lives on track. As we ring in the new year, let's be inspired by these remarkable ex-convicts who managed to defy the odds and prove that nothing is impossible.
10The Lawbreaker Who Became A Lawyer
Before he became a lawyer and prolific supporter of prisoner rights, Daniel Manville spent three years and four months in the slammer for manslaughter. Manville continued to study while incarcerated and eventually earned two college degrees during his sentence. He became enamored with the legal profession and went to law school right after his parole.
He finally passed the bar exams in Michigan and Washington, DC after waiting many years to be approved by the respective boards. Afterwards, Manville worked tirelessly to improve the prison system and represented various inmates and prison guards in civil cases. Nowadays, Manville teaches law at Michigan State University, where he hopes the insights he shares with students inspire them to someday help improve the system as well.
9 The Millionaire Ex-Convict
Uchendi Nwani lived a very Jekyll/Hyde existence during his college years. On the surface, Nwani—raised by his stepfather, who was pastor in one of Nashville's largest Baptist congregations—played the role of exemplary student to his family and friends. However, Nwani hid a very dark secret underneath that shining exterior: He was a drug dealer, and a very notorious one at that. His greed got the better of him on October 15, 1993, when police caught a million-dollar shipment of cocaine while he was in the middle of an exam during his senior year.
He later turned himself in and did six and a half months of hard labor at a federal boot camp before he returned to finish his studies. To make ends meet, he cut hair at the university salon while living in a halfway house. After he graduated, he opened his own barber shop and school which later became a huge success. Nwani now travels around the country to show that he is living proof that, no matter how low you sink, you really can turn your life around if you don't give up.
8 The World's Most Flexible Man
Twist of Fame: Ex-con wows crowds with body bending skills
While doing time in prison can be a hardening experience for most people, Mukhtar Gusengajiev used his time there to soften himself up. Gusangajiev was just 17 years old when he fell in with the wrong crowd and was ultimately sentenced to three years for partaking in a fight. While serving his time, Gusengajiev dedicated himself wholeheartedly to practicing meditation and flexibility exercises. After he was released from prison, Gusengajiev did a series of odd jobs before finally ending up in Moscow, where he performed as an artist at a government-owned circus.
Gusengajiev got his big break in 1995 when he was noticed by Jean-Claude Van Damme, who invited him to perform for his movie. Although that movie was ultimately scrapped, that invitation did get Gusengajiev to Las Vegas, where he later became famous for his mind-bending feats of flexibility. Since then, Gusengajiev has performed in several prominent events around the world and taught countless people that discipline can help them achieve their goals in life.
7 Chess Taught Ex-Convict The Right Moves In Life
Chess aficionado Eugene Brown made a lot of questionable decisions early on in his life. Classified as a high-risk youth, Brown frequently mingled with the bad eggs in his hometown of Washington, DC, ending with his participate in a failed robbery attempt and subsequent incarceration in a New Jersey prison. During his stay, Brown met his future mentor, a man named Massey with whom he often played chess. It was during one such game that Brown realized the practical applications of chess to everyday life and how he had been making all the wrong moves up to that point.
After he left prison and went back to his hometown, Brown taught his grandson—who was also experiencing behavioral problems—to play chess, with very positive results. Before he knew it, he had established his own chess club, which became hugely successful teaching young people the right lessons in life. As for Brown, he later became a thriving real estate businessman, but has continued to mentor his young wards in the game of chess and life. A movie based on his story will come out on 2014 starring Cuban Gooding, Jr. in the lead role.
6 From Cocaine To Cuisine
Prior to cooking delicious five-star cuisine, celebrity chef Jeff Henderson cooked something else entirely dangerous—cocaine. As a teenager, he had manufactured and sold the drug in his native Los Angeles. By the time he was 19, Henderson was earning as much as US $35,000 per week. He was later apprehended and imprisoned for 10 years after one of his men was caught carrying a big shipment. It was in prison that Henderson discovered he had a natural flair for cooking and constantly practiced his culinary skills while on kitchen duty.
After he was released early for good behavior, Henderson worked in some of LA's top restaurants before he decided to go for broke in Las Vegas. After experiencing many rejections due to his felonious past, Henderson finally managed to land a job at Caesar's Palace. It was only a matter of time before he finally started getting recognition and awards, including best Las Vegas Chef in 2001. All the fame and success hasn't gotten to Henderson's head and he has continued to share his experiences with at-risk youth to show what they can achieve in life with the right choices.
5 The Jewel Thief Who Became An Honorary Police Officer
Most parents would have second thoughts leaving their child alone with the hulking and heavily-tattooed Larry Lawton. After all, he used to be one of America's most notorious jewel thieves. At one point, he was on top of the FBI's most wanted list on the eastern seaboard. However, the Lawton of today has entirely focused himself on another mission—to use his own experience in educating and saving young people from a life of crime and imprisonment.
Lawton attributed this incredible turnaround to one moment during his twelve years at federal prison. One of his new-found friends committed suicide in his cell, and Lawton—who was in solitary confinement at the time—felt helpless to save him. After he got out, Lawton established his program, Lawton 911, to help at-risk youth from committing the same mistakes he did. Lawton's sincere efforts have not gone unnoticed—he was recently designated an "honorary police officer" by the local police, the first such ex-convict in the US to receive the honor.
4 From Prison To Poetry
Reginald Dwayne Betts was a classic case of a genius gone awry. Although he was an especially gifted student in his youth, his sass made him difficult to teach, and it was only when teachers gave him books to read that Betts would calm down. For all his smarts, Betts made a pretty dumb error at the age of 16 when he and a friend robbed a man and made off with his car. He was caught, tried as an adult, and sentenced to nine years in prison, where he witnessed the horrors that juvenile prisoners experience mixed in with hardened adult criminals.
To keep his sanity, Betts read almost constantly. He became fixated on poetry when someone slipped him a copy of Dudley Randall's The Black Poets. After he got out, Betts completed his studies and became an active voice in reforming the juvenile justice system. He also established a reading club for the local young men in his area, which he uses to engender in them a love for reading and poetry.
3 The Founder Of The French National Police
It may surprise some to know that, at one time, the predecessor to the modern French National Police was founded and headed by an ex-convict. Growing up in Napoleon-era France, Eugene-Francois Vidocq lived a very colorful life that saw him charged and jailed for a variety of crimes, such as theft and assuming false identities. After a while, Vidocq offered his assistance to the police and worked as a spy in the criminal underworld. He became so effective in apprehending criminals and solving complex cases that authorities soon created the Surete Brigade, which was later expanded nationwide by Napoleon and renamed Surete Nationale, to assist him.
Under Vidocq's leadership, the police reduced crime rates significantly. During his stint, Vidocq employed surprisingly modern methods of investigation and even maintained a forensics laboratory, something few precincts did at the time. Although Vidocq would ultimately resign and clash with the police again—largely because he had formed his own private detective agency—such were his legendary exploits that he later became the basis for popular fictional detectives such as Edgar Allan Poe's Dupin and Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes.
2 The Australian Danny Trejo
A lot of movie fans may have already heard about the criminal past life of perennial Hollywood bad guy and anti-hero Danny Trejo, but the Machete star has a lesser-known Australian counterpart in the form of Mark "Chopper" Read. The Melbourne native grew up with a troubled childhood and started his criminal career by robbing drug dealers. He developed a reputation as a dangerous loose-cannon, accumulating tattoos all over his body and even having most of his ears cut off. He spent time in and out of prison for various offenses such as armed robbery and attempt to abduct a judge.
While in prison, Read wrote several crime novels based on his experiences which later became best-sellers. After his release, Read went on to become a notorious celebrity in the Australian scene, but it was a 2000 movie about his life starring Eric Bana that catapulted Read to worldwide fame. Even when he became clean after his prison time, Read never did let of his mad-dog image—shortly before his death from liver cancer in October 2013, he remarked that he didn't care if he died as long as he didn't bleed.
1 The Psychologist Who Received A Presidential Pardon
Noted forensic psychologist Paul Fauteck's early life can be described as chaotic at best. A native of Wichita, Kansas, Fauteck was a mischievous boy in his youth. His schooling ended abruptly after he was discovered with the wallets of the other boys in the locker room. Afterwards, Fauteck continued to engage in questionable activities, including carrying a concealed weapon and smuggling his Mexican wife into the country. However, what really got Fauteck in trouble was when he joined a group of men who issued counterfeit checks. For that, he was sent to federal prison, where he frequently spent time in solitary confinement for bad behavior.
After a while Fauteck finally decided to go on the straight path, a decision galvanized by his father's death just before he left prison. He later moved to Chicago, where he eventually ran an advertising agency while he finished his studies in psychology, having been told by his psychologist friend that he had a natural aptitude for helping people. In time, Fauteck became one of Chicago's most respected psychotherapists. He also became a forensic psychologist for the local justice system, where he worked for more than a decade before he retired. The culmination of Fauteck's long and arduous road to recovery came in 1992 when he received a pardon from President George H.W. Bush. Although retired at present, Fauteck continues to push for improved rehabilitation programs to give ex-convicts a better second start in life.
Marc V. is always open for a conversation, so do drop him a line sometime.
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There are some hotels you get a sense of before you even walk through the door. In this case before I set foot in Myanmar I knew The Strand was going to be special. I put that feeling down to my early correspondence with the DOS, Jared Green, who reached out to me soon after I started with Diethelm Travel. For my industry friends you know there are those hotel sales personalities who are just such a delight to talk to over e-mail that you just sense it's a good precursor to how fabulous the hotel is going to be.
I LOVED The Strand. Let me set the scene. The hotel has been a fixture in the Asia hotel scene for a long time. Since it's creation in 1901 ongoing restorations and refurbishments have kept this 'Grand old Lady' of Yangon looking and feeling fresh.
The thing is, as old ladies go The Strand is one uber-chic, fashionable and impeccably preserved old lady! She totally owns her position right on the Yangon River, walking distance to everything in Downtown Yangon. You walk in the hotel and phrases like contemporary, slick and 'boutique city hotel chic' all spring to mind.
You're in the heart of the action yet you're in total exquisite isolation, wrapped up in the walls of a contemporary style which does a stellar job of complimenting it's proud colonial roots. Neither does the colonial style try to steal the attention. It's not a fight between new and old, it's a balanced double act – a perfect meeting of old and new.
…but what I love most about the Strand are the bright, light and airy rooms with the most amazing high ceilings and huge windows. Anyone who's ever arrived somewhere after a 20 hour flight on a stuffy plane will know how re-invigorating it feels to let yourself be enveloped by a bright, crisp hotel room. The kind of room that smells so fresh and clean it feels like you're the first person ever to check into that room. That's how I felt at The Strand. No dark paneling, loud wooden floors and no cold corners in sight, just clean lines and a style subtle enough it works for both younger and more mature clients alike.
There's one thing – guests might ask about a pool. Yangon gets hot and humid so a dip is a nice idea. Right now at The Strand there isn't a pool, but it's coming. The hotel have a plot of land next-door to build on so the wheels are in motion. Honestly, in my opinion the pay off of having this super chic gem of a hotel at your disposal overrides the addition of a pool any day of the week.
After we finished up at The Strand my guide Mr. Thomas took me on a walking tour of downtown Yangon. Check out the photos below for scenes of Yangon in pictures. The pics give you a sense for the street scene but if there's one thing you take away, make a note of 'Rangoon Tea House' – you MUST send your guests here. Super cool new tea house in central Yangon serving all kinds of traditional Burmese cuisine for breakfast, lunch and dinner – plus the signature Burmese teas the place is famous for. We take clients here regularly to rave reviews of the cool scene, great teas and central location. Highly recommended for a stop during any walking tour of Yangon.
Ha! All of that my darlingest Jeannie is true, except for the 'old lady' part! Missing you and at least through this blog I can share with you what I am up to in this amazing region!


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5 Day Fire Sale - begins today!
Today is the first time we have done a 5 Day Fire Sale and it will be exciting to learn more and share with others for the next 5 days! At the end we get to have a party and celebrate our accomplishments. We are sharing our stories and experiences with Young Living products and how they have transformed our lives. We feel powerful in our health and well being and want everyone to know about the products and how to use them for support. In this day and age with toxins all around us and in the air, the most natural healthy ways we can support ourselves and this planet are very important! Follow along to learn more and have some of your questions answered and maybe even learn some new things you didn't know, expanding your knowledge while having fun!