On June 1, and after 19 years,

Rick Left Motorola

for a new job at a company called   .    Marconi is a London based company with their US Headquarters in Warrendale Pa., 20 miles north of Pittsburgh.   Was a very tough decision but on balance an offer which was not to be refused.

click here for the photos

I had 2 going away parties, the first one on the Wednesday prior to my leave was held at Lovell's and the second was 2 days later at Mickey Finn's in Libertyville. Pictures above were from those two parties. Thanks to all my Moto pals for the great time.

Truth be told, Motorola was continuing a steady decline from their cellular heydays in the mid 90's. Amidst all the restructuring and new management it was clear that existing employees were not going to get the advancement chances they would have received earlier.

I stayed when they brought in the worst CIO of all time, named Ming, and grudgingly worked for her. She was so incompetent it was laughable. But after they got rid of her and brought in someone else from outside Motorola, it was clear to me I would not get a shot as a Divisional CIO at Motorola. So you either abandon the dream or take a chance and move on. I decided if you didn't move on at age 45 - when would you do it?

So I left.

If you can believe it, the new job has me commuting to Pittsburgh 4 days per week, (Mon-Thurs) for 3 weeks of the month with the 4th week of the month working in London. 

I fly in to Pittsburgh Monday Morning (early) and am back home in Chicago at 6:30PM on Thursdays.  Have a very nice company furnished apartment in Mars, Pa.  And working again for good friend Greg Goluska.  If you are in the western Pennsylvania neighborhood, come on by.

I leave a lot of great times and even better friends at Motorola.  Thanks for the great farewell dinner and party.  

It was spectacular....