Chase Alumni: Binkley on Power, Ball, Saigon and Y2K

 
 
 
 
Dear [first_name]:
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Happy Father's Day to all the alumni dads!
 
POLICY CHANGE: We're following up on an alumnus suggestion that when we publish  comments from CAA members, we identify the writers by the years they worked for Chase, Chemical, MHT, First Chicago, WaMu or whatever bank that is now part of JPMorgan Chase. So when you write in, please remember to provide that information.
Many thanks in advance!
 
NEWS & EVENTS (PAST AND FUTURE)                                              
 
 Register now for a Zoom session with alumnus Ralph White, author of Getting Out of Saigon. The conversation will take place on Wednesday, June 28, 2023, beginning at 7 pm.
White will be interviewed by CAA webmaster/writer Andrea Axelrod, before White takes questions from attendees. The Zoom link will be given in the email acknowledging your registration.  
 
Check out our review below.
 
 
 
The June 14, 2023 Subway Series game began with a rain delay and ended with the Mets beating the Yankees 4-3 in extra innings. It was a battle of pitchers, with a capacity crowd treated to two masters: Gerrit Cole (Yankees) and Justin Verlander (Mets). Above are some of our CAA baseball fans: Diane Bresee, Manuel Peña-Morros and Bill (Whitey) Kaufmann, with his daughter Kim. Kaufmann was a star college baseball player!
 
SAVE THE DATE! The Fall CAA NYC reception will be held 5:30-7:30 pm on Monday, October 2, 2023 at JPMorgan Chase, 277 Park Avenue, 17th floor. Thank you to JPMC for making the space available. More details, including regisitration information, to follow in time. Note that this reception is only open to dues-paying CAA members.
 
The contest to guess where JPM stock will land at the end of the second quarter closed on May 1st, with the stock at 141.20. (It was at 138.73 when we announced the contest  on April 16, 2023.)
 
Our alumni prognosticators submitted guesses ranging from a gloomy 119.38 (debt default, anyone?) to a rosy but hardly gravity defying 163.78. The mean was 143.86. On Friday, June 16, the stock closed at 143.26, approaching the mean. Two weeks to go!
 
The dues-paying CAA member who has the closest guess will win a $200 Amazon gift card. The winner will be notified on the evening of June 30, 2023.
 
Click here for JPMorgan Chase's Jamie Dimon annual Chairman & CEO letter to shareholders, issued this past week.  
 
 
Having predicted a coming financial  "hurricane" just 10 months ago, Dimon now has a sunnier forecast, citing a healthy U.S. economy that he believes will remain healthy for decades to come. "When one talks about risk for too long, it begins to cloud your judgment. Looking ahead, the positives are huge," Dimon wrote – nevertheless saying he's fully prepared for a backslide.
 
 
 
Ken Jablon reviews CAA Alum Ralph White's memoir of rescuing 113 Vietnamese civilians at the fall of Saigon.  The book was released on April 4, 2023 by Simon & Schuster.  
 
Click here for the website about the book, which includes dates on Ralph White's book tour. See above, where we're having a zoom conversation with him on June 28th.
 
Other stories on the CAA website about Chase's experience in Vietnam:
 
Corruption, or That's Not How We Do Things (Part 2): We're starting to post more stories about experiences alumni have had being approached overseas (or stateside) to participate in corrupt practices–or having to look the other way. The latest post is a story by Sergei Boboshko about his experiences in Russia in the 1990s.  (Also visit Part 1)
 
If this is a subject you are willing to write or be interviewed about, please contact Andrea at news@chasealum.org. You can speak confidentially, or we can run your story anonymously if you prefer. We've already heard from a number of alumni. Add your tale!  
 
EVENT PHOTOS  (Viewable by dues-paying members)     
 
Photos from a holiday reunion of Chase alumni in the Dominican Republic.  
 
 
...from the CAA London chapter's holiday lunch at the RAF Club.
 
...and from a gathering of Chase alumni in Mexico City on November 10, 2022. (Viewable by all)
 
LIFE AFTER CHASE                                                                
 

# Nick Binkley, one of our best correspondents, is the focus of a recent Pfeffer on Power podcast on Spotify, where he is interviewed by Jeffrey Pfeffer, The Thomas D. Dee II Professor of Organizational Behavior at Stanford Graduate School of Business. Binkley discusses his Chase Manhattan roots and how they helped lead him to a tenure as vice chair of Bank of America. The podcast shares valuable lessons in career building and finding releases from the pressures of stressful work.

 
Chase Alumni's leading Amazonian explorer, James Lynch, sent us a link to a new video featuring his participation in death-defying white water canoeing and camping on the Roosevelt River, deep in the Amazon jungle. Such risk for so much breathtaking scenery! Fasten your seatbelt!
 
 
 
We've written before about Chase alumnus and  polymath Bob Graboyes, who, while an economics  professor, won the 2014 Bastiat Prize for Journalism, an international award for “writing that best demonstrates the importance of individual liberty and free markets with originality, wit and eloquence.” 
     Graboyes has now left academia and is writing a substack (blog) he has dubbed Bastiat's Window, and it displays that same originality, wit and eloquence over a wide variety of subjects – with numerous references to his experiences at Chase. He just published a three-parter entirely related to and heavily laden with Chase Manhattan lore. The first installment is called Fun and Death in Lagos, but you need to register on the site to read it. It's well worth the effort!

#  A General Note: Alumnae of First Chicago and Morgan Guaranty have sent us emails complaining that those institutions are not sufficiently represented on this website, that everything is about Chase, Chemical and Manny Hanny. (And, of course, we get complaints from Chem and MHT alumni that everything is about Chase!) This is a reminder that we largely rely on you, our members, to send us your stories and recollectionsWe propose story topics – e.g. mentors, romance in the workplace, working in dangerous situations, memorabilia, best hires, ways you spent the pandemic, book recommendations, to name a few – and then hope that alumni from all the JPMC heritage organizations will chime in. We're also always looking for contributions to Moments in Bank History (all the banks!) and Life After Chase (or Chem, MHT, First Chicago, First Republic, etc.). So please, scour your memories and contact us! As always, you can write up a story yourself or just ask to be interviewed. Contact Andrea at news@chasealum.org.

 
MOMENTS IN BANK HISTORY                                                    
(And remember...you have friends at Chase Alumni who want to see photos of your  Bank memorabilia! Please send to news@chasealum.org.)
     

# Object of the Week:  CAA Board Member Mary Molloy sent in this Y2K commemorative (with her reflection) from New Year's Eve, 1999, from CBS – Chase Business Services. Mary described CBS as an Innovative operating model at the time, centralizing support for businesses and functions with on- and off-shoring. "It was a tug-of-war at first, as no business/function could imagine services could be 'Better, Faster, Easier, Cheaper' (the CBS branding) if not provided by them," Mary said. "Today, all companies have shared services." CBS was launched in 1998 and led by Liz Flynn. 

 

 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
To Catch a Thief: Elsie Low's story is both a Moment in Bank History and an example of a banker in danger. Learn how she foiled a bank robbery at a Brooklyn branch of MHT in 1986.
 
 
 
 
BANKERS IN DANGER: The third part of our series now includes a story by Nick Binkley, who found himself in Beirut during the 1975 Lebanese Civil War. The series features our intrepid alumni in hair-raising situations in the Middle East, Asia and South America. Were you ever asked to continue working–or struggling to get out of town–in a war zone or amidst other types of violence? Let us know. Here are links to the stories so far: Part 1 (stories by Bob Aberlin, Ed von Leffern, George Lacen, Alan Delsman, Mariana Abrantes de Sousa) | Part 2  (stories by Geoff Scott, Chris Matlon and Jim Haynes) | Part 3 (story by Thomas Lane and about Frank Ciulla).
 
 
We congratulate our longtime UK CAA member Jim Haynes, who recently marked his 55th anniversary working for or with Chase – since 1999, when he technically retired, for JPMC-heritage banks' UK pension plans. Read about his work and his other sporting passions.
 
 
 
Sometimes memories include good-natured humiliation, as when Sergei Boboshko remembers a team-building exercise playing English football.
 
 
 
 
 
The (Bank-Supplied) House I Lived InAlumnus Roger Griffin suggested a story about the portfolio of Chase-owned houses that were used by bankers – particularly country managers – on foreign assignments. Having begun the series with wonderful reminiscences by Tony Lord, including  a non-housing run-in with Imelda Marcos, and more memories from Ed von Leffern, Paul Hemminger and Neil Wright
       Read Part 2 of the series, including a recollection by Sergei Boboshko, as always a great chronicler of his adventures as the Chase banker in Russia, Sandi Beers Tuttle's additional reminiscences of the Moscow apartment and a story by Nancy Sauer about flats on different "storeys" in London. 
     We would love to hear from other alumni who lived in Chase-owned buildings – including bankers from heritage banks who lived in their equivalent on overseas duty. Please contact Andrea Axelrod at news@chasealum.org. Speaking of housing: If you have a great story about finding non-bank-owned housing overseas, let us know as well!
 
From a moment in very distant bank history: Two Chase alumni in Antwerp, Marc Smits and Josse Borremans, continue their remarkably researched saga into the DNA of U.S. credit standing. This lengthy installment focuses on the late 18th century negotiations between Charles De Wolf (whose Belgian bank was the forerunner Banque de Commerce) and John Quincy Adams (in photo), then the U.S. Envoy to the Netherlands, later the sixth president of the United States. (Happy Presidents' Day in the USA!) With talk of default in the air now, it's interesting reading. Smits and Borremans even found a "Bourne Ultimatum" at work! Pull up a chair and learn some fascinating history.
 
In Memoriam                                                                         
Please send remembrances and news of recent alumni deaths to news@chasealum.org.
 
Clara Duránwho retired from Chase Manhattan after many years of mothering young MBA vice presidents as an executive administrative assistant, died on May 7, 2023.
She was 87. If you were one of those young VPs, did she really type your dissertation for you? Please let us know!
 
 
 
 
 
 
Sir Win Bischoffthe legendary financier who began his career at Chase Manhattan and completed it this past year as chair of JPMorgan Securities in the UK, died in England on April 25, 2023. He was 81.
 
 
 
 
How Best to Use the CAA Membership Directory            
 
If you have not done so recently, please update
the information in your profile, so that the CAA and other members would be better able to contact you. Using the Membership Directory is a privilege of dues-paying CAA members.
 
Now get a refresher on how to best use the membership directory to find an individual or
groups of individuals you would like to contact. (Note that only dues-paying members have
access to the directory.).
 
To get to the directory, log in at www.chasealum.org. On the home page menu, click on Membership and then Member Directory.
 
When searching by name, or in any of the other search areas, we advise starting by putting in less information in the search field. For example, if you want to find William Smith, type only Smith in the Search by Name box; if you put in “William Smith” and he is calling himself Bill Smith in his profile, you will not find him.
 
If you want to find members who live near you, enter the city, state or country (or any combination) under Location. The Years at Chase search is very valuable. Type in 1996-2005, for instance, and you will find everyone who worked for the bank (including heritage banks) during those years. You can narrow your search by also typing in a location or job title.
 
Once you have entered the search words, click on Search at the bottom of the page. When members’ names appear, click on their names to obtain more detailed information about them.
 
If you have any problem with any of this, contact Ken Jablon at jablonkt@aol.com.
 
As always: If the links do not work for you, you can always access the latest stories by logging on to CAA's web site.

If you have any questions, please send an e-mail to Ken Jablon or call Ken (during normal working hours) at 212-799-9525.

By the by: Don't forget to explore the rest of the CAA Web site. (www.chasealum.org) Just click on the home page menu buttons to find the news archive, photo album, membership directory, past In Memoriams and benefit information.

The Board of the Chase Alumni Association  
          
 
 
 
 
 






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