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Founders Day

2024 West Point Founders Day

THE 2024 WEST POINT FOUNDERS DAY DINNER

SATURDAY, March 16, 2024


5:00 p.m. Candidate and Parent Reception
5:30 p.m. Benny Havens (Credit/Debit Card Bar Only)/Registration
6:45 p.m. First Call for Dinner
7:00 p.m. Dinner/Program

at

The Capital City Club Downtown

7 John Portman Boulevard NW at Historic Harris Street

Atlanta, GA 30303

See Reservation Form for payment options—there will be no refunds.

A reservation made is a reservation paid!
Early RSVPs and payment are strongly requested.
To guarantee class seating, RSVP NLT March 8, 2024.
Late changes – Jan Heath, jdheathwpsa@gmail.com or 770-996-7349.
Complimentary Valet Parking at the Capital City Club Downtown

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Information

Join the USO ATL Airport Team!

The West Point USO Atlanta Airport team needs volunteers!

If you are interested in spending a few hours a month supporting American service-members, please reach out to Dave Taylor.

As part of our community service, the Society has been supporting the USO since shortly after 9/11. As the years have passed the original group of volunteers have moved, aged out, or started to spend more time with grandchildren.

As a consequence, we need to replenish our volunteer pool for the opportunity to give back to our service members.

We encourage you to support this worthwhile Society project. If you are a Corporate Leader looking for team building or volunteer projects for your company, please consider the USO

If you are interested please contact the coordinator, Dave Taylor, at either dlt30075@att.net or 770-316-8094.

Some details of the program are:
Mission: Help service members and their families as they transit Hartsfield-Jackson.
Location: The Hartsfield-Jackson USO on the third floor of the rotunda in the main terminal
Frequency and time: Every third Thursday of the month from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM
Parking: Free in hourly lots
Point of Contact: Dave Taylor
C: 770-316-8094; email: dlt30075@att.net

Please contact Dave Taylor at 770-316-8094

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Uncategorized

WPSA 2018-2019 Annual Report

President’s Letter — Why WPSA?

01 July 2019

Dear WPSA Members,


I’m humbled to be your President. As you know, your WPSA Board of Governors (BOG) and Officer slate are volunteers. Why do we do it? We do it because we believe in West Point — because we care about our school, what we learned, and what it has done for us. We do it because we believe in Duty, Honor, Country.


We, as an AOG Distinguished Society, have done a lot of things really well. We throw a grand Founders’ Day Dinner; donate generously to our Alma Mater; organize one of the best Governor’s send-offs in the Country; and take every opportunity to Beat Navy at hosting great events!

We are keeping the same theme as last year’s: Honoring our Heritage, Preparing for the Future. My main priorities for the 2019-2020 year are:

  1. Honor West Point and the US Army
  2. Execute an outstanding Army GSU Football tailgate
  3. Career development for all ATL grads
  4. Growing WPSA’s corp of volunteers and board members.

However, the Future is only ONE day away and we as a Board believe we must do certain things to keep our Society strong. Helping our younger grads achieve the same or better level of success our older grads have is key to WPSA’s future.


Our surveys indicate two areas where we are falling short: professional networking and engaging younger grads. We are taking action on these fronts: we have younger grads from the 2000’s joining our Board, we have partnered with the Harvard Business School Club of Atlanta to join their professional networking events and we have also appointed a Careers and Networking Chair to help with employment and entrepreneurial ventures.


If you find yourself not wanting to get involved, please tell me why and the WPSA BOG and I will do what we can to fix it. We want you to gain something from YOUR Society — whether it’s fellowship, remembering the good ‘ole times, growing your business or finding a job.

We’d love to hear your feedback and, even more, would appreciate your time in keeping the Atlanta Long Gray Line strong!

Respectfully,
Samir Patel ‘08
WPSA 2019-2020 President

1.0 Officers + Board of Governors

Your 2019-2020 Board of Governors are a fantastic group of volunteers dedicated to keeping the Long Gray Line strong in Atlanta. Many of them donate precious time and energy on a weekly basis to help out Atlanta area grads. You’ll notice that younger grads are now joining our Board. We feel this is essential to ensure WPSA remains in touch. To get in contact with any of our Board of Governors, who serve for 3 year terms, please email Samir Patel ‘08 at Samir.Patel2008@gmail.com or Jan Heath at JDHeathWPSA@gmail.com.

2.0 The Future – – Career and Networking for all grads

Jim Eberle ‘71 leads this effort and has done a remarkable job helping grads find not only employment but also with their entrepreneurial ventures. Jim’s distinguished career spans a diverse set of operational and leadership roles resulting in successful acquisitions of his companies. During the 2018-2019 fiscal year, Jim has assisted over 44 individuals:

● 34 USMA grads
● 3 – couples – working with both husbands and wives
● 1 – Cadet USMA 2019 – non-commissioned – medical
● 2 – Navy officers / 4 – other veterans referred by network people
● 2 – civilians referred by network people

Jim’s Contact Info: jim@eberle71.com

Partnership with Harvard Business School Club of Atlanta.
We partnered with the HBS Club of Atlanta to piggy-back off their outstanding professional education and networking events.
They also host a mini-employment fair a couple times a year. There is a cost to join but at a reduced rate as USMA/WPSA is now
considered an affiliated university.
To join, first create a Login and then Request Membership (the regular rate is $149 (regular HBS Alumni pay $99).


Please contact Steven Russell ‘81 to learn more at s.e.russell@comcast.net.

3.0 Founder’s Day set new records

Our 2019 Founders Day Dinner (FDD) produced the highest attendance within the last eight years. Thanks to Kerry McNair ‘84, we were able to have the USMA Superintendent, LTG Darryl Williams ‘83, speak at our Dinner. We did conduct a survey of the event and the results are below.

The venue at Capital City Club has been most gracious with us: they waive fees, allow free valet parking and are a joy to work with. If we were to replicate FDD at another fine venue in Atlanta, you can guarantee that tickets would be 125-$150 per person which means we are saving attendees at least $40-$65 per person based on current ticket prices.

Our Silent Auction did very well too! This year we co-located it on the main floor as Benny Havens hour and it resulted in more guests being able to view the items on display. We also managed to sell dozens of bottles of our wine label – the Long Gray Vine (flavors in Pinot or Italian White).

4.0 Army vs Georgia State Football game – 19 Oct 2019


We are super excited about Army coming to Atlanta in October. At time of this writing, we already have 800 paid RSVPs for the tailgate and over 1100 game tickets purchased. We made a decision to subsidize ticket prices so more can attend; this means that we need to find Sponsors willing to support the tailgate financially. If you or someone you know can sponsor the Tailgate, please email Samir Patel ‘08 samir.patel2008@gmail.com or call 404-723-8410.

5.0 Membership is growing


130 dues paying members. 135 Lifetime Members.
● Please consider marking your calendars every January to pay WPSA dues. Dues are important because it helps provide resources to plan the events we organize every year. It also covers our part-time salaried Executive Director who keeps our organization moving forward each month.
● Please note, Dues Membership is based on calendar year while WPSA operates on a July to June fiscal year. Please contact Jan Heath if you have questions about Dues.
● 2019 Current Dues:
○ Active Duty: $20
○ Graduate: $35
○ Lifetime (one time fee): $450
○ Surviving Spouse of a Grad: Free Lifetime Membership

6.0 Other Important Events — Mark your Calendars!


Happy Hours
Northside ATL (Vinings, Sandy Springs) – 3rd Thurs of each month organized by Alex Mikstas ‘09
Southside ATL (Peachtree City) – Last Friday of each month organized by Jack Smith ‘81


Governors Send Off – 20 June 2019 organized by Bill Basnett ‘86 and Ken Konstanzer ‘89
Top Golf Challenge – 22 August 2019 organized by Dave Houston ‘86 and Jim Duncan ‘95
LEADS (Leadership, Ethics, Diversity) Conference – 18 Oct 2019 organized by Eddie Williams ‘81
Fall Family Picnic – 09 Nov 2019 hosted by Mike/ Bette-Rose Bowers ‘63 and Dave Jacoppo ‘86
Service Academy Ball – 22 Dec 2019 hosted by the GA Air Force Parents Club.

7.0 Future of WPSA — Need Volunteers!


We have the amazing Jan Heath who serves as our Executive Director who helps manage the chaos. However, WPSA is only as strong as it’s volunteers and we are looking for more individuals willing to contribute their time and energy. Please contact Samir Patel ‘08 at 404-723-8410 or at samir.patel2008@gmail.com if you are interested in joining the Board or can volunteer some time on a
project by project basis.

8.0 John R Petty Foundation — Our Charitable Arm supporting Veteran Causes


WPSA’s affiliated charity – the John R Petty Foundation supports various veteran related initiatives. We routinely sponsor a table (approx $2,500) at well regarded charities such as the Veteran’s Empowerment Organization (which takes care of homeless veterans) and the Johnny Mac Soldiers Fund (providing college
scholarships to children of fallen service-members). The Foundation provided approximately $4,200 in total contributions in 2018-2019.


There are multiple ways to support the mission of JRPF:
1) Buy our very own high quality wine! “ The Long Gray Vine” (both in Pinot Noir and Italian White varieties).
Email Dale Hajost ‘82 at dhajost@big-inc.com. $40 per bottle.


2) Sign up for Amazon.com’s SMILE program (a portion of your Amazon purchase will go back to JRPF).Click Here to automatically enroll by logging into your Amazon.com account.

3) Donate directly: Click Here

If you would like the Foundation to make a donation to a military or veteran centric cause, please contact Dale Hajost ‘82 at dhajost@big-inc.com. There is a form to fill out and the Board will vote on approval to disburse funds.

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Information Welcome

WPSA email update

Not Receiving WPSA Email Messages?

If you are not currently receiving WPSA email messages, it is probably because (1) WPSA does not have your email address; (2) WPSA has an outdated address; or (3) your address will not accept messages sent via Constant Contact.  

Please send your current address (preferably a personal vs business address) to Jan Heath, WPSA Executive Director, at jdheathwpsa@gmail.com

WPSA has several events planned for the next several months–don’t miss out on the information disseminated on a regular basis!

Categories
Grad Spotlight

Grad Spotlight – November 2018

Grad Spotlight – November 2018

Tracey Lloyd ’03

Tracey Lloyd ’03 is an experienced retail executive and specializes in turnarounds and optimizing shareholder’s value. She was featured on the cover of Fortune Magazine in 2010 and is a Bronze Star recipient.

Present:
JCPenney – District Manager responsible for all Georgia stores.
Board member: National Black Arts Festival & Urban League of Greater Atlanta

Previous:
Bloomingdale’s – Operating Vice President
Walmart – Senior Director, District Manager

About Tracey:
She is a laser-focused, high-performing, and organized executive with two-decades of career making contributions as a leader in high tempo environments that fuel profit, team performance, and drive enduring change. She has lead organizations with more than 4,000 employees and who generated more than half a billion dollars in revenue. Inclusive, articulate, and effective communications skills in French and English. Proponent of life-long education— graduated from West Point in 2003.

How to get in touch: https://www.linkedin.com/in/traceycolemanlloyd

Each month, WPSA will highlight an Atlanta area graduate and WPSA​ member doing something professionally noteworthy in a business context. Please nominate a Grad you feel has accomplished or is accomplishing something worth sharing.

Nominations are voted upon by the WPSA Board monthly. Nominations can be sent to President Samir Patel ’08 at samir.t.patel@outlook.com

Grip Hands!

Board of Governors
West Point Society of Atlanta

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