Experience

• 

  Lyric Opera of Chicago

  • Chicago

  • Supernumerary

    • Jan 2022 - Present
    • Chicago

• 

  Derse

  • Director Business Development

    • Jun 1977 - Present

    Producer of global trade shows, events, customer experience centers, showrooms, interior marketing environments, mobile marketing, with virtual and face-to-face engagement experience while providing design, fabrication, plan implementation and installation, marketing, strategic development, experiential choreography, research & measurement.

• 

  Merchandise Mart Properties, Inc.

  • Chicago, IL

  • Housekeeping Department

    • Jun 1975 - Jan 1977
    • Chicago, IL

    While in college and looking for a summer job, my Uncle Bob gave me an opportunity at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago, where he worked as a manager of facilities and operations. In a building so large it had its own zip code, I worked primarily as a day janitor on the floors. I was also assigned to the shipping docks, was a mailroom boy, and worked setup arrangements in the showrooms during college summers and winters as part of the Housekeeping Department union located in the basement catacombs of The Merchandise Mart. While there, I and several of us college-age kids had the privilege of befriending and being tutored by a unique and varied group of professional old-school janitors and dock workers from most every walk of life, country and ethnicity. Men who took great pride in their work, who took us under their wing like a son. It was amazing how well we all interacted, the fun and pranks we had, and how much we cared for each other despite the differences in our ages and backgrounds. It is one of the most memorable and enriching experiences of my life which helped shape me as a person.