Welcome!

and thanks for taking the time to find me.

To a new destination and for me a breath of fresh air. I felt touched that so many of you were saddened by my FB departure but as I tried to say in my note, it would not be the end of my effort to share thoughts, stories and experiences with you. At this stage of my life sharing ideas and experiences accumulated over a lifetime of work, family, heartaches and celebrations is about the best thing I can do to try to give back some of what life has so generously given me. These are tough and sad times for so many and while I don’t profess to have the answers to these incredibly complex and pressing problems, sometimes I can at least help distill the questions to help us understand the common ground that enables many of their solutions.

Being an American in Europe has been an amazing and eye opening experience not only for me but my family as well. We were sailing along with our Spanish lessons, learning to eat late dinners and seeing so much of not only Spain but Europe as well until…the Covid curtain descended. And as I’ve shared it clamped down tight! We feel so fortunate to have our health and each other that everything else pales in comparison. But as Joni says “you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone”. So much of what we enjoyed and took for granted went away so quickly. Now as things return, bit by bit, we try to retain a sense of perspective and gratitude for every positive movement.

My work here has been to help Starz, expand their international media platform Starzplay, helping to develop and eventually produce new original local drama series. Netflix, Amazon, and the other big players are here in force and Starz is moving quickly to keep pace. For me it’s a chance to work with storytellers, both writers and producers and hopefully help them to do something special that will help bring an audience to our platform. I have been so incredibly impressed with the level of talent here, not only their creative brilliance but their generosity of spirit as well. I was extremely blessed to have some local friends help introduce me to a woman who has become our head of development and together we have been combing the marketplace for a year and now have 2 series ready to be “green lit” - meaning they’ll be produced and on the platform by 2021. I have made so many new friends through this work that I can’t imagine not having them or this place as a part of my life. Despite my limited Spanish and I’m sure sometimes strange American ways they have more than accepted me, they have befriended me.….another big reason for gratitude.

I read something today from George Will, a conservative writer who I respect though frequently disagree with. Today though he said something that for me had a particularly high level of relevance:

Abroad, anti-Americanism sleeps lightly when it sleeps at all, and it is wide-awake as decent people judge our nation’s health by the character of those to whom power is entrusted. Watching, too, are indecent people in Beijing and Moscow.

People here as tremendously saddened by what they are witnessing in our Country. The US has been a beacon of hope, especially in countries where authoritarian leaders rob their people of hope and opportunity. We have stood for humble, generous leadership in a world that has needed our support, especially in times of crisis. We have built alliances that have kept a continent that was ravaged by two horrific wars at peace and in prosperity and showed the way forward in innovations in science, technology and medicine that have improved the lives of so many beyond our shores. That light of hope and possibility has darkened and it saddens me to see it in the faces of so many friends and business colleagues who expect so much more from us. I know we can be more than this but it will be up to us to insure that we, at the very least, elect and are led by those who can bring us together to face these massive challenges that will define our future and for those of my generation, our legacy.

Again thanks for visiting

stay safe and strong.