My speech for a colleague

Last Friday was the last day for a friend of mine at my company. I said a few words about her at a gathering.

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Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Today reminds me of a time not long ago. It was May 14, 1998, and after nine highly successful seasons, one of the greatest television comedy shows of our time came to an end. (The good news is that May 14 is John’s birthday!) When the show finally ended, its star was asked "Why stop now? You're at the top?" His reply: "When would you like me to go? The right time is when you're on top."

So, this week our friend Ann is calling her time at TSC to an end. She's at the top of her game. And unlike the television show, she's had a run of 21-years, or in TV-terms, 12-seasons longer than the show.

I know many of you have worked with her before, and many of you have spent more time with her than I. I envy you for what you must have shared. For me, it was almost 3-seasons ago that I joined the ASDP cast of characters and what a series it's been with Ann.

The ASDP, in my short time, has gone from an installation at Seattle-Tacoma airport, to an in-depth development of SPAN, two installations at JFK International airport, to our current projects at La Guardia and San Francisco, and even to new and evolving improvements at JFK.

Like a good television program, we've had some actors work with us and move on to other shows like Steve Romine and Mark Bond. Still, they never completely left us. Mark has helped us with our current work and Steve makes an occasional cameo appearance. We even had the pleasure of a special guest appearance with Sean Muldoon, who did wonderful work with us on an IRAD project at JFK. I think that's the first time I've ever walked so close to passenger airplanes taking off and landing. It was definitely the first time I've had direct communications between me and the air traffic control tower, that's where John and Sean were stationed!

Speaking of the IRAD, we had a guest director in the person of Lee Moyer. Lee has been a special guest: part engineer, part mentor, and part sage. He’s exceptional and we were fortunate and blessed to have him.

A time of travel we've had, and you may notice that our "home-base" has pretty much been New York. Like the comedy show, we even have a favorite restaurant; only it's not Monk's Cafe, it's a kosher steakhouse in Queens.

Like a good show, we've had our share of writing and ad-libbing, too. With Ann as director, we have presented papers at the past two International Carnahan conferences and we have another one at the IEEE Homeland security conference in May. Each paper has borne the mark of Annie with her crisp use of language, explanatory graphics, and remarkable descriptions of why there is no other system like ASDP available outside of TSC. And if you find something like it, best to keep that to yourself.

Let me introduce you to some of the cast, all of whom I know will miss Ann:

First, our newest actor is Shaudi. For those that missed it, Shaudi was featured in the last TSC newsletter, or you might say "Playbill." I urge everyone to read about her. If you know Shaudi, you won't learn anything you don't already know, but if you don't know her, well, she's a remarkable engineer and you owe it to yourself to find out why.

Our next cast member is John O'Neil. Ann auditioned John before I came to the show and it's easy to see how well Ann works at casting calls. John is everything one could want in an engineer, programmer, systems developer, tester, writer, hardware guy, software guy, camera controller, cabling, and the list goes on and on. If we could give an Oscar for best engineer, John would win it every year.

Let me say a few words about our star, Annie.

Annie has been gracious yet driven, funny yet serious, gentle yet forceful. She is helpful when asked, polite at all times, and caring in her manners and dealings with others.

When I was worried she sought to soothe me. When others were edgy, she calmed them. She has a gift for nurture and it comes through everyday.

Over our shared seasons, I've often started my days with Annie, vicariously (and only vicariously) climbed mountains with her, and oftentimes, I ended my days with her as well. There have been few people I've spent so much time with for so many days at a time. My wife even calls her my "work spouse." I guess there's something to that, in a sense anyway. And in that time, no matter what, she's rarely been upset or, shall we say, changed channels on me.

Ann, thank you for all your work, for your time and for the fun and good times, too. Best of luck to you as you change networks and seek audiences on other stations.

And the comedy show, what was this top rated comedy? Well, it had characters such as George Castanza and Cosmo Kramer. I would have to say that Annie is our Elaine. Elaine gave the show flair and fun, she was interesting, funny, and as we say about Annie, the eye candy.

It's been a great run; thanks for all you've done. Good luck and may God bless you.