THEATER OF WAR IS PRESENTED AT AMERICAN REPERTORY THEATER February 28 & March 7 at 7pm Loeb Drama Center Cambridge, MA — The A.R.T.

I am excited to be able to make readers of The White Rhino Report aware of two upcoming dramatic presentations followed by discussions about war and its impact on combatants, families, survivors and the larger community.

I invite you to join me for the next two Monday evenings.

THEATER OF WAR IS PRESENTED AT
AMERICAN REPERTORY THEATER
February 28 & March 7 at 7pm
Loeb Drama Center

Cambridge, MA — The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) is pleased to partner with Theater of War Productions, a social impact company that presents readings of ancient Greek plays to military communities as a catalyst for town hall discussions, to present Theater of War on February 28 and March 7. Scenes from Sophocles’ Ajax and Philoctetes directed by Ellen McLaughlin, translated and facilitated by Theater of War founder, Bryan Doerries, and produced by Theater of War producing director, Phyllis Kaufman, will be followed by panel discussions with active-duty military and veterans, their family members, and mental health professionals, concluding with a town hall discussion with the audience.

Both events will take place at the Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle Street, Cambridge at 7:00pm; they are free and open to the public.

DETAILS:

Monday, February 28 at 7 p.m.: Excerpts from Philoctetes and Ajax

CAST:
Athena in Ajax and Chorus in Philoctetes	Kaaron Briscoe
Tecmessa in Ajax	Linda Powell
Ajax in Ajax and Odysseus in Philoctetes	Brent Harris
Chorus in Ajax and Neoptolemus in Philoctetes	Nick Crandall
Odysseus in Ajax and Philoctetes in Philoctetes	Ed Walsh

Panelists:
Ed Walsh, Iraq Veteran (U.S. Marine Corps)
Imelda Fisher, widow of a 10th Special Forces Green Beret, Army Community Service at Fort Devens
Chaplain Lieutenant Colonel promotable Ronald R. Huffman, U.S. Army Garrison Chaplain, Fort Devens
Bill Donoghue, Minister of the United Church of Christ, Vietnam Veteran (Navy Corpsman, U.S. Marine Corps), and father of a Marine currently serving in Afghanistan
Facilitated by Bryan Doerries

Monday, March 7 at 7 p.m.: Excerpts from Ajax

CAST:
Athena	Kaaron Briscoe
Tecmessa	Linda Powell
Ajax	Brent Harris
Chorus	Nick Crandall
Teucer	Nathan Darrow
Odysseus	Ed Walsh

Panelists:
Lieutenant Colonel Warren Bacote, Commander of U.S. Army Garrison, Fort Devens
Evan Bick, First Lieutenant (MA National Guard), formerly infantry platoon leader (U.S. Army)
Gillian Sowden, Harvard Medical School student, married to Evan Bick
Bill Donoghue, Minister of the United Church of Christ, Vietnam Veteran (Navy Corpsman, U.S. Marine Corps), and father of a Marine currently serving in Afghanistan
Facilitated by Ellen McLaughlin

Tickets are free but reservations are required. Tickets can be reserved through the Box Office at 617.547.8300, in person at the Box Office located at 64 Brattle St., Cambridge, MA, or online at americanrepertorytheater.org/TOW.

The A.R.T.’s production of Ajax is directed by Sarah Benson, and runs February 12 - March 15 at the Loeb Drama Center. For further information about this production and the A.R.T.’s 2010-11 season, log on to http://www.americanrepertorytheater.org

About Ellen McLaughlin
Ellen McLaughlin's plays include Days and Nights Within, A Narrow Bed, Infinity's House, Iphigenia and Other Daughters, Tongue of a Bird, Helen, The Trojan Women, The Persians and Oedipus. Producing theaters include The National Actors' Theater, The Public Theater, New York Theater Workshop, Classic Stage Company, the Actors' Theatre of Louisville, the Intiman in Seattle, the Mark Taper Forum in L.A., Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the Almeida in London and the Guthrie Theater, MN. She is the recipient of grants from the Fund for New American Plays and the National Endowment for the Arts. She is the winner of The Great American Play Contest, the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and the Writer's Award from the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund. Recent work includes Ajax in Iraq for the ART Institute, Penelope for the Getty Villa and Septimus and Clarissa for Ripe Time in NYC. She is also an actor, most well known for her role as the original Angel in Tony Kushner's Angels in America.

About Theater of War
Theater of War is an innovative, participatory event that is intended to increase awareness of post-deployment psychological health issues, disseminate information regarding available resources, and foster greater family, community, and troop resilience. To date, Theater of War Productions has delivered over 125 performances and discussions of Sophocles’ Ajax and Philoctetes at more than 50 military sites throughout the United States and Europe. Nearly 25,000 service members, veterans, and their families have attended and participated in Theater of War.

Theater of War Productions, supported by a generous grant from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation in collaboration with the United Service Organizations, is partnering with ten prominent theaters and universities across the United States to present Theater of War for mixed audiences comprised of military service members and civilians. Using Sophocles' plays to forge a common vocabulary for openly discussing the impact of war on individuals, families, and communities, these events will be aimed at generating compassion and understanding between diverse audiences

Visit Theater of War’s website: www.theater-of-war.com to find more information about the project, watch a short video of a performance, and find out about recent and upcoming performances. You can also find Theater of War on Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheaterofWar

About the Stavros Niarchos Foundation
The Stavros Niarchos Foundation (www.SNF.org), an international philanthropic organization, makes grants in the areas of arts and culture, education, health and medicine, and social welfare. While prominent in its support of Greek-related initiatives, the Foundation’s activities are worldwide in scope. Since the beginning of its grantmaking efforts in 1996, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation has provided total grant commitments of $1,165,000,000 through more than 1,800 grants to nonprofit organizations in 90 nations around the world.

I encourage you to call or go on-line to make reservations.

Enjoy!

Al

Outstanding Opportunity for CFO in the U.S. Southwest

One of White Rhino Partners client companies is looking for an unusually gifted and energetic CFO for a distribution company in the U.S. Southwest. Please check out details below and pass along to those in your network.

CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER (CFO) JOB DESCRIPTION

SPECIALTY INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS DISTRIBUTION COMPANY

1) Company Description

a. Approximately $150 million specialty industrial products distributor

b. Privately held (private equity ownership)

c. Headquartered in Southwest US – relocation to Southwest if currently living elsewhere

d. Operates branches in multiple US states

e. Leading distributor of specialty industrial products to refinery/petrochemical, marine, commercial and power generation markets with diversified customer base and product set

2) Authority

a. Report to CEO

3) Responsibilities

a. Build and manage a strong finance organization that can support scale; ensure proper controls are in place on a global basis

b. Primary responsibility for cost management focus

c. Lead annual audit process and deliver on time and under budget

d. Demonstrate mastery of credit docs and operating in leveraged environment

e. Manage working capital, liquidity and drive debt reduction

f. Maintain rigorous review process around all capex projects

g. Conduct acquisition due diligence and integration

h. Demonstrate BDPs for strategic benefit of entire organization

i. Ensure timely and accurate reporting to PE sponsor and lenders

j. Operate as strategic partner to CEO

i. Work effectively with finance personnel, senior managers, branch managers, PE sponsor, lenders

ii. Identify upfront positive and negative trends in the business which impact future periods, actively communicate with regional execs to ensure common understanding of trends and problem solve with the team

iii. Foster inter-departmental initiatives (e.g., Sales & Operations Planning)

4) Characteristics

a. Strong energetic leader who can provide vision and direction

b. Data driven / structured thinker

c. Excellent communication/presentation skills

d. Strong management skills

e. Ability to build and motivate a strong finance team

f. Entrepreneurial mindset and creative problem solver

g. “Thick-skinned’ with direct and open communication style

h. Willing and able to serve as “thought partner” to the CEO

i. Willing to roll up sleeves and work with finance team and strategic team as required

5) Experience

a. Previous experience as CFO managing a national finance organization preferred (Controller or VP of Finance also possibilities)

b. Experience in value-added distribution

c. Experience operating in a leveraged balance sheet environment

d. Experience acquisitions: conducting due diligence and successful integration – 4-5 prior acquisitions ideal

6) Compensation

a. Base salary and performance bonus tied to EBITDA performance

b. Equity options package

Please forward this information to anyone in your networks who may be qualified and interested.

Qualified candidates only, send MS-Word resume and cover letter to:

Dr. Al Chase - achase47@gmail.com

In the cover letter, highlight the aspects of your career that directly match specific items in the job description, salary history and expectations, and openness to relocation too the Southwest.

Announcing GaggleAMP - Inviting You to Join The White Rhino Herd Gaggle

My friend, Glenn Gaudet, is an energetic, innovative and successful serial entrepreneur. He has come up with a new tool for making it simple to pass along messages that you deem worthy of amplification when you receive that message from a trusted friend. Thus was born “GaggleAMP.” I am proud to have been asked to serve as a BETA user for this exciting new service.

I am using GaggleAMP to help get the word out about many of the things that are happening with White Rhino Partners and my Blog, The White Rhino Report. I want you to become part of my “Gaggle” – “The White Rhino Herd”. This will allow you to share messages that I recommend, sending them out to your own friends and followers on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Don't worry, it's not another platform to join. It's just a website that allows you to see the messages I am asking you to share.

As a way of saying thank you, we have added a fun incentive for passing on these messages: Be my guest at a Red Sox game at Fenway Park. Using GaggleAMP is fun and easy. It is 100% opt-in. This means you decide which messages you want to share. You can pass on any message. Privacy is important to me. With GaggleAMP, I get to see how many people shared a message, but I cannot see specifically who did. Therefore, do not feel pressured to share anything that you are not comfortable with.

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Enjoy!

The White Rhino – Al Chase

More Wisdom from Daniel Pink: "Have You Ever Asked Yourself Why You Are in Business?"

Whether he conveys his wisdom via Blog or printed page, Daniel Pink often finds ways to challenge and stimulate my mind. He has done it again with this thought-provoking column in The Telegraph.

Here is an excerpt from that recent column:

"It’s often difficult to do something well if we don’t know the reasons we’re doing it to begin with. People at work are thirsting for context, yearning to know that their efforts contribute to a larger whole. And a powerful way to provide that context is to spend a little less time monitoring who, what, where, when and how – and little more time considering why.

Here are two simple ways to do that.

First, find out whether the people on your team even have a 'why'. At your next staff meeting, ask this question: 'What’s the purpose of this organisation?' Then hand everyone a blank index card and ask them to write their answer anonymously. Collect the cards and read them aloud. What do you hear? People needn’t recite the same lyrics, but they should be playing the same basic tune. If they’re not – if answers range all over the place or people don’t have answers at all – you might have a problem no matter how good you are at the where, when and what.

Second, keep the why alive. Once a week, at that staff meeting, spend a few minutes revisiting the question. Talk about the purpose of the week’s activities. Discuss your efforts’ effect on other people’s lives. Remind each other why you’re doing what you’re doing in the first place"

I encourage you to read the article in its entirety, and then go buy one of Pink's many useful books. He is a great resource.

A Five Minute Exercise

Job Opportunities in China, India and Japan - How is your Mandarin, Hindi or Japanese?

One of my client companies is hiring aggressively "AAA candidates" in a variety of disciples. Here is a description for what they are looking for in China:

The client is a fast-growing and well-established company that is aggressively hiring people to work for them in Beijing and elsewhere in China. They will hire quickly based on positive phone interviews. They have both pre-MBA and post-MBA roles, and are hiring both ethnic Chinese and non-Chinese.

Please distribute this information to all of your Mandarin-speaking networks.

This is a great opportunity for Mandarin speakers to work in Beijing and other cities in China. Looking for sales, marketing, strategic planners, HR, and other top talent to build out the team for a fast growing and well-established company. Only AAA candidates who are wired as high-energy entrepreneurs should apply.

The same company is also hiring Hindi speakers for similar positions in India as well as Japanese speakers for positions in Tokyo.

Send MS-Word version of resume and cover letter to:

achase47@gmail.com

Contact me for details.

Thanks.

Al

D.C.-Based Opportunity for Sales Professional Selling to DoD and Federal Agencies

D.C.-Based Opportunity for Sales Professional Selling to DoD and Federal Agencies

A leading provider of detection and security equipment is looking to hire a “hunter” sales person to be based in the D.C. area. You will be selling detection equipment to federal agencies – especially U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Border Patrol.

The best candidate will bring:

· Several years of experience selling into one or more of these sectors

· A solid rolodex of relationships with end users and procurement and contract professionals in these sectors

· Hard-driving, self-directed hunter

· Knowledge of the detection/security world is a plus

· Former military preferred

· Outstanding communication skills and people skills

· Team player who works to build the total business along with your own area of specialization

Compensation will be competitive and geared to experience and performance. Base $90-110K + commission. Anticipated first year total compensation at plan $150-175K.

Please forward this information to anyone in your networks who may be qualified and interested.

Qualified candidates only, send MS-Word resume and cover letter to:

Dr. Al Chase - achase47@gmail.com

In the cover letter, highlight the aspects of your career that directly match specific items in the job description, salary history and expectations, and openness to relocation.

"Dancing with Max - A Mother and Son Who Broke Free" by Emily Colson with Charles Colson

Emily Colson, with the help of her father, Charles Colson,has crafted a wonderfully moving and inspiring story of her relationship with her son Max. "Dancing with Max - A Mother and Son Who Broke Free" tells the story of Emily, as a single mother, fighting to help her autistic son find ways to make sense of the world and to express himself to that world. Their story is a very human story, and one beautifully told by Emily, who is primarily a fine artist and graphic artist. Yet she uses a vivid palette of words and phrases to paint a clear picture of the rocky road that she and her son - deemed a special gift by their friend "Peppermint Patti" - have walked.

Emily's father, Chuck Colson, Founder of Prison Fellowship Ministries, adds his own voice by way of very transparent and insightful Prologue and Epilogue. Many years ago - before Max was born - I was part of the staff of Prison Fellowship Ministries, so I got to know Chuck well, and met Emily on a number of occasions. The story that they tell in this book makes it clear that God has used Max in powerful ways to impact their lives and the lives of those in the extended family, church family and wider community.

I found particularly poignant Emily's account of the struggle to find the right diagnosis for Max, and eventually, the right school. It took a great deal of energy, courage, perseverance and assertiveness for her to advocate for her son who for the most part was not able to speak for himself. This story of struggle also contains many vignettes of hope and of warmth and of love. Ultimately, what emerges is a picture of an unbreakable bond between mother and son forged through much frustration and pain. They each learned to make sense of a world that offers daily challenges for surviving and thriving.

I love the way that Chuck, in the closing lines of the Epilogue, puts it all in perspective:

"Isn't it just like God, that after all these years of study and service as a Christian, I would experience this ultimate Good - or as close to it as humans can - in the lives of my daughter and grandson?

Emily heroic? No. She has simply found the greatest joy in life. Max disabled? No. The world labels him such, but I think Peppermint Patti got it right; he is an incalculable gift from God. And a gift to me personally.

Emily and Max's life together has been a dance. And I, awkward though I am on the dance floor, join them eagerly, dancing with my grandson and my precious daughter as if she were six years old again." (Page 197)

This book is a gift - not only to families and communities touched directly by autism and the spectrum of autistic disorders - but to any of us who need to learn to plumb the depths of love more fully.

Read - enjoy - and be blessed.

Al