Friends & Connections

At our 55^-year, high school reunion, Larry Blundred and Milt Priggee gave all of the attendees a copy of their award winning, children’s book, How Pickleball Saved Ollie ©.  Larry said a few words about how he and Milt connected for this project.  In fact, Larry said one of the great things about high school reunions are “friends and connections”.

As it turned out, Larry and Milt connected a few years prior at our 50-year high school reunion when Larry was in search of an illustrator for his upcoming book.  (Coincidentally. Milt had “connected” with his wife Jan at our 20-year high school reunion when they both found themselves single, classmates and friends.)

I believe friends and connections run deep in my high school class.  At our 55^th reunion I was able to share another example with my classmate, teammate, and friend, Fred Teichen.  As it turned out, it was a story he hadn’t heard before the reunion.

Fred and I were friends and teammates even before York Community High School of Elmhurst.  We played on the same basketball team at Sandburg Junior High School along with Brent Johnston among others.  Brent’s Dad, Bud Johnston, was our coach.  But it was another Bud that had a major impact on my family.

In 1969, Fred and I were teammates on York’s sophomore basketball team.  Common in youth sports, our parents knew each other from attending our games.  The parents of our sophomore team always sat together, especially at the home games.  It was there, in the stands of the York High School gymnasium during one of our home games, that a special result of a friend and connection unfolded.

Fred’s Dad was Walter “Bud” Teichen and a great fan of his son’s basketball team.  Like my Dad, Bud never missed a game.  Bud had a bonus because he could also watch Fred’s older brother, Wally, play in the varsity games on the same nights.  It was in that York gym that Al Pokorn and Bud Teichen developed their friendship.

They came from different backgrounds, I think.  In my Dad’s case, after leaving the service he worked at the Sunbeam factory in Cicero, IL for a while.  He left factory work to join his Brother-In-Law in the roofing business.  From there my Dad became a plasterer tradesman.

The trades were tough for my Dad.  At 5’9” and 140 pounds, the physical demands took a toll on his body.  The proverbial “icing on the cake” came when drywall replaced lathe and plaster in building construction.  By 1959, it was time for my Dad to make a career change.

I don’t know if was through a “friend and connection” but my Dad wound up taking a job with the Independent Order of Foresters (IOF) selling life insurance.  I was in the 4^th or 5^th grade at the time and had not met Fred Teichen yet.  Initially, my Dad was very good at sales even earning the IOF “Tree Toppers” award as a leading salesman.

Fast forward a few years when my Dad befriended Fred’s Dad.  Bud Teichen was running a successful insurance agency in Elmhurst.  By that time my Dad’s sales productivity had dropped.  His commissions were up and down – mostly down – and my Dad’s enthusiasm for a sales career waned.  My Mom had taken an office job at Burny Bros Bakery in Northlake, IL in 1962 to help pay for my older brother’s college.  She had also been diagnosed with cancer.

Returning to 1969, my Dad’s sales commissions were no longer enough to cover our household expenses plus my brother’s college.  Since I was a sophomore, he knew I would be attending college as well in a couple of years.  My Mom’s wages were filling the gap but her illness was progressing beyond what medicine back then had to offer.  She started missing time being too sick to work.

Of course, I wasn’t in the stands during that one home game when Bud and Al were chatting, but I can imagine how their conversation might have followed along this line:

            Bud                 Hi Al!  How’s it going?

            Al                    Hi Bud!  It’s OK I guess.

            Bud                 How are sales?

            Al                    Not good.  In fact, I’m looking for a different job 

outside of sales.

  Bud               Well if you’re serious, I might have a connection that 

can help you get on at the tollway.  But it will likely 

come with “conditions”.

In the 1960s Major Richard J. Daley was at the height of Chicago’s “Machine Politics”.  The center of his political power was patronage.  Daley wasn’t the first.  Chicago Mayor, William Hale Thompson perhaps with none other than Al Capone way back in the “Roaring 20s”, along with Daley in the 1960s are all credited with leveraging the policy of, “Vote early. Vote often”.

Well, Chicago may have been a stronghold for the Democratic Party (still is), but DuPage County where my Dad and Bud Teichen lived was staunchly Republican (still is).  My Dad did follow up with his friend Bud Teichen’s connection and he was hired by the Illinois Tollway Authority.  Initially, my Dad was a “fill-in” Toll Collector.  He would roam from toll plaza to toll plaza working different days and different shifts, filling in for Toll Collectors who were out sick or on vacation.  My Dad loved the job!

My Dad appreciated his friendship with Bud Teichen and Bud’s referral, too.  He faithfully completed the job’s “conditions”.  Every night before every election – federal, state, county, or city, I remember my Dad sitting by the telephone in our dining room pen and paper in hand.  The call came like clockwork.  My Dad wrote down the explicit voting instructions he was given and he would go to the polls the following day to cast his vote.

My Dad was eventually assigned to one toll plaza (near O’Hare Airport) and he worked a regular schedule on the dayshift, Monday through Friday.  He also volunteered to work overtime and fill-in nights, weekend, or holidays when asked.  He loved the job!  My Dad was earning his first consistent, 40-hour a week paycheck, plus medical benefits, since he left the Sunbeam factory in the 1940s.

Though my Mom’s health deteriorated as her cancer spread and she couldn’t continue working, my Dad was able to cover our household expenses, my college costs, and even my Mom’s escalating medical expenses.  After she died in 1974, he continued working at the tollway and continued meeting the “conditions” for years to come.

Al Pokorn never forgot his friendship with Bud Teichen, nor Bud’s connection that led to our family’s financial security.  Neither did Al Pokorn’s son.  I was able to relate this true story to my friend, teammate, and Bud Teichen’s son, Fred at our 55^th high school reunion.

Friends and connections indeed, Larry Blundred.

Renaissance Man

That was a compliment Tom McSweeney gave me the last time we spoke.  Tom died all too young in January of 2026.  He was a great influence on so many careers – mine included; several times; over several years!

I met Tom in Chicago in 1979.  He was an ADP UCM sales specialist.  The same role I was interviewing for.  The sales manager, Dave Schwickerath, had me do a ride-along with Tom to see first-hand what the job entailed.  That was the beginning of a string of career coincidences between Tom and me.

He thought I was crazy to apply for a draw vs. commissions job.  At the time, I was married, had a 3-year old son, and a mortgage payment.  He asked, “You do realize this is a commission job?”  Tom was single, renting an apartment, and had working for his Dad as a safety net.  Responding, I told him I figured if I didn’t sell deals every month ADP would fire me so the make-up of the compensation plan didn’t matter.  That’s when Tom realized I thought a little different.

Tom and I were both promoted to Employer Services District Managers and worked together until I abruptly quit ADP in 1984, ironically over a compensation dispute with National Accounts.  Fast forward to 1991…

I was selling for Oracle Corporation and “killing it”.  However, I was planning to move my family to Denver.  Unfortunately, Oracle had just finished an SEC audit and had to restate financials for overstating revenue.  They weren’t committed to keeping an office in Denver so I was exploring my options.  Ian Kerr, from ADP Chicago Accounting Services days, offered me a job with IMRS, but the travel would be heavy.  (Coincidentally, Oracle eventually acquired IMRS.)  Bob Ackerman, formerly an ADP DM in Chicago, was with JD Edwards and lined me up with interviews at their Corporate Headquarters in Denver.  (Ironically, JD Edwards would be purchased by PeopleSoft and PeopleSoft would be purchased by Oracle.)  But I digress…

I reconnected with Tom.  In the seven years since I’d left ADP National Accounts in Chicago, Tom had been promoted and transferred to become ADP Denver’s Sales Exec.  I asked him to connect me with a local head hunter.  After explaining what was going on with Oracle’s downsizing and confirming my house in Elmhurst was on the market, Tom, asked, “Why don’t you come work for me?”  And I did.  It was the first of 3 times he hired me.

Tom had me “re-start” ADP’s National Account presence in Denver.  We weren’t “segmented” so I reported directly to him.  Two years (and 2 President’s Clubs) later Tom promoted me to a Sales Manager over his “Manager-in-Training”, Gary Givan.  Coincidentally, Gary moved into my previous NADM role and skyrocketed to fantastic sales success.  Unfortunately, Denver was segmented when Gary took over and his super sales results rolled up to Tim Lamb in Atlanta not to Tom. 

Tom knew segmentation was coming for Denver Major Accounts, too.  That’s why he picked me as a sales manager.  I would “pilot” Major Accounts for him until it was segmented, which it was shortly thereafter.  Following another President’s Club my first sales manager year, Denver Major Accounts was officially segmented finding me rolling up to John Harris, DVP Major Account Sales out of KC.  Things worked out for Tom, too.  He was promoted to VP of Major Account Sales Operations under Russ Deloach and moved to Roseland, NJ.  Then, along came the stork… twice!  

In my second year as Denver’s Major Accounts Sales Manager (MASM) my Systems Consultant, Debbie Cipolla, took a leave of absence to start her family.  Shortly thereafter my Number One MADM, Lisa Kwiecien, did the same.  Both requested 12 weeks of leave; both requested to return to work – with “conditions”; both requested to return part-time, working 3 days per week.  This was unprecedented in ADP’s Major Accounts sales organization at the time.  So, thinking a little different, naturally I agreed.

I agreed to Debbie and Lisa’s requests because (A) It was the right thing to do.  Debbie and Lisa were outstanding performers and I felt they deserved my support; (B) I felt my team had other sales stars such as Jim Adler, Dene Daggett-Kelly, Jae Pregill, John Kleinhenz, Patty Geyer-Manvelichvilli, and others, that we were strong enough to overcome missed sales weeks; and (C) FMLA was enacted into law in 1993 so technically, I was required to grant their maternity leaves.  Turns out – I was wrong.  But only with item B.  We weren’t strong enough and I was running under quota at ADP for the first time.  Then along came December of 1995…

I didn’t have a good relationship with my DVP John Harris.  Nothing like I had with Tom.  It was my fault.  I was arrogant and bull headed.  He warned me about those maternity leaves coming back to bite me.  I wouldn’t listen.  That December I was scheduled for my very first (and only) “Ops Review” with Russ Deloach.  It was a cold, damp, dark day in Cleveland, OH.  Worse – I was not ready.  John had left me to my own devices to prepare for the review.  He gave me the proverbial rope.  It’s not that the review didn’t go well… it was much, much worse than that.

Being under quota, the meeting with Russ started off bad plummeted from there.  It was the single worst business meeting in my entire, 5-decade sales career.  I still remember it like it was yesterday.  Russ dwelled on my maternity leave “leniency”.  He hammered me over and over with, “Why?!” “What were you thinking?!” “We don’t do this in Major Accounts!!”  In his infamous way, Russ was walking me down the path that led out the door to the unemployment line.  The only defense I could think of was saying that Lisa Kwiecien at 3 days per week was still better than anyone else on my team at 5 days (which was true).

I was numb from Russ’ “interrogation” and that’s when my friend Tom McSweeney stepped in.  As VP of Sales Ops, Tom made the rounds with Russ for these reviews.  I don’t remember exactly what he said or how he said it but somehow he calmed Russ down and prevented me from being fired that day.  John Harris remained silent.  His division was under quota too, so I suppose he didn’t want to draw fire away from me to him.  It wasn’t a secret.  If his largest region with the biggest quota (mine) was under plan, of course he would be, too.  I like to say Tom McSweeney hired me 3 times; saved my job once (in Cleveland); and fired me once (read on).

The following year Denver was “re-aligned” to the west and I rolled up to Bryan Colteaux, DVP of Major Account Sales out of the Bay Area.  My team regained #1 status (with Debbie and Lisa still working part-time).  That’s when we all went to President’s Club in Switzerland and were recognized for our top performance.  (Ironically, I don’t remember seeing Deloach while we were there.)  But I did meet someone special on a lunch cruise in Switzerland…

After asking Fred Ibrahim one of my MADMs to point me out, Joy Cox came up and introduced herself.  I knew of her – everyone knew of her - Joy had been the #1 MADM nationally for multiple years.  She surprised me nonetheless with her introduction.  After saying, “Hi, I’m Joy Cox”, she continued right into, “I hear you’re a family friendly manager.”  You can imagine how the conversation continued from there.  After returning from Club Joy officially requested a transfer to join my Denver team. Tom McSweeney called.  He told me Russ Deloach went berserk at the news!

Well, I wasn’t there but whatever Tom said to Russ and however he said it, I guess Russ calmed down because Joy did transfer to my Denver team.  She did start her family.  She did take FMLA.  And she did return part-time.  Joy Cox has continued her “Hall-of-Fame” sales career in Denver up to the writing of this piece in October of 2026.  She was happy; I was happy; and Tom ultimately agreed with my different thinking – it was in fact the right thing to do.  Fast forward to 2004…

Over the years, Tom had been promoted from sales ops in Roseland to VP of Sales for ADP Europe and moved his family to France.  He returned to the states in a Major Accounts executive capacity before ultimately quitting (ironically over a compensation dispute).  During that same period I had moved from MASM in Denver to the Western Division Alliance Manger – a pioneering role supported by Bryan Colteaux.  Tom liked the idea so much that he promoted John Veire from the Minnesota Major Accounts sales exec role to become the Alliance guy in the Midwest.  John took my “little different thinking” and led the Alliance program at ADP to great heights. 

Tom McSweeney left ADP to lead the Sales Genie division of InfoGroup and moved his family to Omaha, NE.  I also left ADP to become Director of Sales for Spectrum HR in Denver (one of the Alliance partners I had developed).  After two years at Spectrum, I decided to strike out on my own and opened a sales consulting practice.  When Tom heard, he hired me (for the 2^nd time now) to review the Sales Genie strategy and sales process from top to bottom.  Who could have known that my inside access to Sales Genie and InfoGroup would re-surface in the not too distant future.  Fast forward to 2009…

I had returned to Corporate America after 4 years of consulting when Shayne Libby recruited me to be the first Strategic Account Executive for the Denver office of NetSuite.  I knew Shayne from ADP Major Accounts.  I recommended him to be named the MASM for ADP’s Salt Lake City office when I worked for Bryan Colteaux.  I knew of NetSuite from my ADP Alliance days.  Cloud ERP here I come!

My NetSuite on-boarding was led by Nicole Davidson-Marsolais who before NetSuite, was a Major Account Sales Manager for ADP Canada.  In 2009, NetSuite’s selling model (over) emphasized virtual vs. Face-2-Face selling.  Even my deals that ranged between $150k to $750k were expected to be sold over the phone and through WebEx.  I hated the impersonal aspect.  My sales VP, Mark Imelli (who knew me from my Oracle days) was happy with my performance.  I simply couldn’t get over the fact that I was losing 9 deals out of 10 because I was remote vs my competitors who always “camped out” onsite.  1-800-Call-Tom-McSweeney…

I had stayed in touch with Tom when I was at NetSuite and he was at Sales Genie.  Periodically, I shared my frustrations with him about selling virtually.  Then, Tom was promoted to VP and GM by Vin Gupta, InfoGroup’s CEO, to lead a new Enterprise Sales initiative.  Tom said he was hiring a team of 125 sales “hunters”.  During one of our phone conversations when I said I was definitely going to leave NetSuite Tom said, “Gary, you’re one of the best hunters I know.  If you’re serious about leaving NetSuite I’d love to have you on my team.”  I asked Tom, “What does it mean, ‘I’d love to have you?”  When he outlined the role and the comp plan I said, “I’m in!”

Tom hired me (#3 time) as an Enterprise Account Executive for InfoGroup.  It was actually a 2-for-1 because I recruited my friend Chad Sailsibury whom I knew from ADP Major Accounts in Seattle to join InfoGroup’s team as well.  Chad and I reported to Tom DeFloria whom I was acquainted with from his work with ADP in Las Vegas.  Then, along came a Private Equity Group…

The SEC forced Vin Gupta out at InfoGroup due to insider trading and other expense reimbursement irregularities.  The PE’s assigned CEO decided she didn’t really want a team of new business hunters.  Instead, she wanted a team of Enterprise Account Managers to “farm” $3Million+ books of business each.  Tom had to fire people he had hired although he would stay on to lead the Account Managers.

The first cut came in December of 2010.  Tom reduced his team from 125 to 25 reps.  Chad and I made the cut, Yay!  The remaining team met at InfoGroup’s Omaha HQ in January of 2011 – it was frigid outside and in!  Chad was pleased we made the cut.  I responded with caution – something just didn’t feel right.  In Omaha, Tom walked everyone through the reorg.  Chad and I were reassigned to a new sales manager.  DeFloria moved into an Account Manager role, one of the 25. 

Then, we were all called up, one by one, to present our 2010 sales results, the size and make-up of our book of business, and our Q1, 2011 forecast.  The audience was our fellow Account Managers, Tom and his sales managers, and the new CEO and VP of Sales.  Having been in the seat for less than 12 months, my numbers were uninspiring to say the least.  Memories of my Cleveland Ops Review with Russ Deloach came to mind.  I walked past where Tom was sitting after my presentation.  He stopped me briefly to quietly say, “What ever happened to that great salesman I knew?”  A portent of things to come I feared.  

Chad’s presentation didn’t go that well either.  And during our entire time in Omaha we never sat down with our new sales manager.  Strange.  At the Omaha airport Chad disclosed he already accepted a job with a new company.  He only traveled to Omaha out of curiosity.  He “bailed” the next day via email to Tom.  I was embarrassed for recruiting him in the first place.  When Chad asked my intentions I simply said as long as Tom was there I wouldn’t quit.  (I prematurely quit once before at ADP National Accounts Chicago and regretted it ever since.)  Still, something just didn’t seem right.

I called Tom directly.  I rarely went over my sales manager’s head, but in this case my sales manager didn’t seem interested in me anyway so what the heck.  When Tom answered I started by saying, “Tom, this isn’t Gary your Enterprise Account Manager calling.  This is Gary your friend since 1979 calling.”  Having set the stage I proceeded to ask, “What’s going on?”  Tom, good to our friendship replied, “We’re going to fire you tomorrow.”  We ended the call agreeing to keep our exchange, “among friends”.

The following morning at 8:30 am with Tom and a representative from Human Resources on the line, Tom read from a script, “Gary, as you know we’re taking the Enterprise team in a new direction and we’ve decided not to take you with us.”  He then had the HR rep call me back on a separate line to go over my severance package.  Tom had 3 more calls to make as his team was trimmed from 25 reps to 20 in the final cut-down.  As it turned out, Chad saved him a call because he was on the cut list, too.  That brings me to 2022…

I hadn’t spoken with Tom since that January day in 2011.  I never knew if he was embarrassed for firing a friend or if he was mad because I didn’t sell big enough, fast enough to make his 20-person team at InfoGroup.  Regardless, by this time, 11 years later, he too was gone from InfoGroup either by his choice or theirs.  The PE firm had gutted the whole company. 

Anyway, Tom saw a LinkedIn post that I had written a book, The Peace and Power of a Positive Perspective ©.  I guess that prompted him to call.  There wasn’t much warmth.  We had gone in different directions personally and professionally.  He asked about my book and I offered a quick summary.  He complimented me when he said, “Gary, you are a real Renaissance Man.” 

Sadly, I never spoke with Tom again.