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Terms you don't hear much in business school: Regatta. Tidal currents. VMG. And yet, at a sailing competition in the Seattle area, Eric gained an insight as valuable as anything you might pick up in an MBA lecture hall. Because VMG stands for Velocity Made Good. And while the topic at hand was how to navigate Puget Sound's complex tidal currents to make the most useful speed in the conditions (that would be VMG), Eric also recognized a perfect parallel in the business world. He knows that, while people are always eager to move quickly in business matters, velocity alone is not enough – it must be properly directed. He may not have thought about it in those terms before, but Eric's career is a study in VMG. Barely 10 years after getting his undergraduate degree in supply chain management, Eric has achieved professional velocity like a rocket sled on rails. After early jobs with Honda of America and Tektronix, he gained serious momentum – and direction – as a system development consultant for Saber, an EDS Company. He delivered quality assurance on projects for the state of Washington Department of Health and FEMA. As a business analyst, he helped improve pension-plan administration for Public Employee Retirement System plans in Oregon ($42 billion in assets) and California ($185 billion). And now he's channeled and focused all that forward motion into a position with ACME. Personally, Eric seeks velocity in a variety of settings. No fan of inertia, he enjoys competitive sailing as co-captain of Portland's J/24 fleet, leads whitewater rafting trips and has competed in short-track inline skating. See a pattern there? Oh, and there's also whitewater kayaking, back-country skiing and cycling. Surprisingly, knitting is not on the list. About the only thing relatively sedate is the progress he's making on the 1911 library building he both lives in and works on. But as you might guess, it's really coming along. |
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