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Dear [first_name]:
# Indicates new articles or articles that have added content
# Note that past newsletters are now accessible on the CAA website. Click on News in the home page menu or click here.
 # PHOTOS! STORIES! Attention all alumni who worked in the UK and/or Europe! We're planning to prepare a commemorative brochure for the Pan-European alumni luncheon scheduled for London on 10 May. (See story below.) We're looking for photos from whenever you were working for Chase in the UK or the Continent -- particularly small or large group meetings, but also photos of offices and buildings. Whether you're attending the luncheon or not, please send the photos to Andrea at news@chasealum.org by 1 April 2025. If you can identify people in the photos, all the better, and please try to supply dates. Because we'll be printing the brochure, please scan photos in high resolution (300 dpi) and send them as "actual size" from smart phones. We're also looking for brief fun/interesting/ memorable stories/anecdotes. We'll be asking attendees to share good ones at the luncheon, so we're particularly interested in stories from non-attendees (but welcome them from everyone, even non-UK/European alumni who have memorable anecdotes from visits to the London or other European offices). Questions? Contact Andrea. Thank you in advance.
NEWS & EVENTS (PAST AND FUTURE)
 # Join the nearly 60 people from seven countries who have already registered for our first Pan-European Chase Alumni Lunch, bringing together Chase Alumni members and non-members from across Europe and beyond. The gathering will take place on Saturday, 10 May 2025 at London’s prestigious Royal Air Force (RAF) Club and promises to be a unique opportunity to reconnect, reminisce and build new connections.
Spouses/partners are invited to attend.
Note that there is different pricing for dues-paying CAA members (£60/$75) and those alumni who are registered for the site but don't pay dues. For the latter, the cost is £90/$115, but includes a one-year's paid membership, which will enable participants to see the photo album following the event (among other benefits).
We have also secured 17 tickets (£34/$42) for a pre-lunch tour of the Palace of Westminster (UK Parliament). If you are interested, you should buy your ticket(s) (via a separate link on the registration page) ASAP, as we expect the tickets will go quickly.
Please click here to read more about our plans for the luncheon and associated activities and to register.
Let’s make this a memorable occasion for as diverse and vibrant a group as possible! If you've already signed up, encourage former colleagues to register as well.
 # It was fabulous last year – it will be even better this year! REGISTER NOW for this year's CAA birdwatching event in Central Park's North Woods led by Tod Winston of NYC Bird Alliance (formerly Audubon). It's scheduled for Wednesday, April 30, 2025, smack in the middle of the peak migration season for songbirds. Since this is two weeks earlier in the year than last year's outing, we may be seeing some different species (particularly waterfowl and raptors). You must be a dues-paying Chase Alumni member to register and may bring one non-member. Cost is $10 per person. Attendance is limited to 22 people, and more than half the places are taken. For details and to sign up, click here.
 # TWO WEEKS AWAY! Register now for CAA Tampa's day event on Saturday, March 29, 2025 at the Tampa Bay Downs racecourse. The event is free for dues-paying CAA members, $65 for non-members (so it pays to join!). Click here to register and for more information.
 JPMorganChase (JPMC) has rebranded its HR/benefits help lines and websites. HR Access has become Ask JPMC. (The squirrel is not their logo. It just reminds us of squirreling away your retirement assets.) You can check on the new numbers and other links to JPMC benefit resources by clicking here.
 FORTUNE recently published quite the description of the new JPMorganChase headquarters at 270 Park Avenue, saying that the first 2,000 employees are expected to start moving in at the end of August, with the remainder joining them by the end of the year. While the article is behind a firewall (or readable via an Apple News+ subscription), there is a related video available to all on YouTube. According to the article, JPMC hopes that the many extras in the building – 19 restaurants! lighting systems that complement circadian rhythms! larger windows! – will help "lure back reluctant employees" who are upset by the Bank's recent mandate requiring all staff to return to the office five days a week. Meanwhile, The New Yorker recently published a profile on Norman Foster, the architect for the new JPMC headquarters. Leave your comments here. And yes, we're hoping the CAA will have a reception in the new building this fall or next spring. (Image: dbox/Foster + Partners) As for the reported employee distress over the return-to-office mandate, Reuters ran the following about a not-so-loving pre-Valentine's-Day Town Hall:
NEW YORK, Feb 13 (Reuters) - JPMorganChase (JPM.N), CEO Jamie Dimon scorned calls from some employees to soften the bank's five-day return-to-office policy in an animated town hall meeting on Wednesday, according to a recording reviewed by Reuters.
 GOING, GOING...GONE! We've sold all the tickets we reserved for the Friday, May 23, 2025 Mets vs Dodgers game at Citi Field. While there are no refunds or returns, we will maintain a waiting list in case one of our alumni cannot use the tickets he/she reserved. For more information, click here. You must be a dues-paying member to order. Please: As we discount these tickets, we would appreciate your not buying them just for friends and family without your planning to attend yourself.
 In a story about how Texas has become a burgeoning financial hub, The Wall Street Journal reported that JPMorganChase has more employees in the Lone Star State than in New York State – 31,000 vs 28,300! "In Texas, about 12,700 [JPMC] employees work out of a 50-acre campus in the Dallas suburb of Plano, where meeting rooms are decorated with saddles and Western wear and on-site eateries include a Texas barbecue stand. The complex, comprising four buildings and 1.5 million square feet of office space, has doubled its employees since it opened in 2017," writes WSJ reporter Elizabeth Findell.
LIFE AFTER CHASE
 Candid Camera: In retirement, Jean-Marc Bara has become a truly accomplished and even prizewinning photographer, with at least half his output falling under the genre of "street photography": records of everyday life in public places – often candid photos of strangers, often without their knowledge. Bara has shared a video of a recent presentation he made about the genre and his work: From Intuition to Insight: A Journey in Street Photography blends education and inspiration, offering insights for photographers and non-photographers alike. Click here for the link and to see some of his extraordinary images.
 For Chrismukkah: Tampa's Charlotte Israel is the perfect profile for a holiday season when Chanukah falls on Christmas: She's an evangelical minister who bases much of her faith in the Torah, as well as an entrepreneur, holistic wellness provider and Rotary leader involved in remarkable projects in Sierra Leone. Click here to read about this gifted Chase alumna.
 Diane Santomouro Bresee has spent post-Chase time painting and traveling. The paintings are of Papua New Guinea – inspired by her father's service there in World War Two and her own visit to the country in 2013.
CAA TECH CORNER WITH DAN ALVAREZ
In his 10th feature dedicated to defining emerging trends in technology (in plain English), CAA board member Dan Alvarez shares reasons for making mobile payments and using a digital wallet. (Spoiler alert: It's easy and actually safer.)
Dan's columns look at tech trends at a "100-level" for Luddites, brilliant (of course) but non-technologically inclined bankers and anyone else in the financial world embarrassed to ask basic questions while looking at the "big picture".
EVENT PHOTOS
# Remember: Dues-paying Chase Alumni Association members can explore the numerous photo albums on the website.
A photo sent by Lim Jiew Keng of Chase alumni from Singapore:
Here's a treat for dues-paying members: Click to read The Story of Money: From Barter to Banking, published by The Chase Manhattan Bank Money Museum in 1967. To become a CAA dues-paying member, please click here.
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: This is the first of nine ads we've posted for The Chase National Bank of the City of New York from World War II. Click here to see the others. This one from 1941, heralding "a great army of credit dollars", reads:
"On Active Duty"
Surely, steadily, the power of this nation to defend itself has emerged from the "preparation" stage: great planes, sturdy tanks, new warships, modern arms are pouring from the crucibles of the national effort.
Less frequently headlined, but also a necessary part of our protection, are blankets, drills, tent cloth, heavy shoes and thousands of other essentials –all vital to a fully prepared, fully equipped America.
Behind this gigantic effort a great army of credit dollars is mobilized, assuring industry of sufficient funds to meet the demands of our huge national defense program. Today, credit answers this call to service at costs to the borrower lower than ever before in the nation's history.
The Chase, aware of the importance of every branch of industry to a productive and united nation, is cooperating in vigorous measure in the financing of defense in its varied phases.
This isn't so much a moment in bank history as a mystery in bank history that we're seeking your help in solving! We received an inquiry from a British doctoral student who recently purchased (with the intent of restoring) a "Guards Red" 1983 Porsche 924 that was originally registered, in June 1983, to Chase Manhattan Bank, Woolgate, Coleman Street, London. The newest owner is looking for information about her autobaby's childhood. Click here for more information and pictures, and let Andrea know if you can fill in part of the car's story. We've added some clues we've received so far. Turns out a lot of Chase officers in the UK had red Porsches at the time.
 For 10 years at least, Chase Manhattan ran ads for the CMB Personal Trust Department featuring chained, supersized (nest) eggs. See how the ad campaign evolved and presented ideas for retirement over the 14 ads we've captured from the 1950s and 1960s. (Two separate posts)
LOOKING FOR INPUT...
IN MEMORIAM
 Volker Pesta, a corporate banker who worked for Chase Manhattan Bank AG (Austria) from 1969 to 1987, died on January 17, 2025, at the age of 81.
 Michael O'Melia, a former Vice President, Real Estate Finance, for Chemical Bank, died on January 27, 2025, in Santa Fe, NM. He was 67 years old and had also worked for Chemical overseas.
 Joseph Casale, 94, a 38-year veteran of Chemical Bank in the New York area, died on January 24, 2024.
 Roman Friedrich III, who, between 1969 and 1980, worked for Chase in Latin America and ran Chase Manhattan Bank Canada, died on February 2, 2025, in Rancho Santa Fe, CA. He was 79.
 Michael Hilley, an essential figure in Chase Manhattan's branch administration for 36 years, died on February 9, 2025, at the age of 80.
 Jürgen Blumschein, a stalwart member of CAA's Frankfurt chapter, died in Frankfurt on January 25, 2025, at the age of 84. Over his 21 years with Chase Manhattan, he served the bank in the United States, Germany, Austria, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
 We were just informed of the death of Louis Difo on November 11, 2021, at the age of 74. A vice president at Chase Manhattan, he served as a strategic planning executive and head of Chase West Africa, based in Senegal.
 Alois (Al) Krtil, who worked for Chase for 40 years, in the Trust and other departments, died on January 9, 2025, in Little Egg Harbor, NJ. He was 86. Krtil served as president of The Chase Manhattan Club from 1972-1973. If any of our readers know more about the Club, please contact Andrea at news@chasealum.org.
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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With a new contribution by Bill Kaufmann, we've relaunched our 
What was it like to be a gay employee of the JPMC heritage banks "in the old days"? 
CHASE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
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