PHENOM - The Search for the Ark of the Covenant

by Jim Plautz

Jim Simpson tried to establish control of the meeting. Two weeks earlier he had attended Shorewood High School’s graduation ceremony and watched Matthew Wilson and his teammates graduate. It marked the official end to Wilson’s tenure as Coach of the Wisconsin State Basketball Champions. The five-month ride with these kids was an unforgettable experience, but all good things eventually come to an end – only the fond memories persist. It was time to get back to work.

  “Come on kids, let’s get started,” I pleaded. “We need to be out of here in 45 minutes,” I announced, realizing there was no way we would make that deadline. There was a lot of business to cover and I needed to catch up on what was going on in my company. I looked around and realized how lucky I was to have friends and business associates that could be trusted. It reminded me of the old adage; ‘There they go, and I must catch up, for I am their leader.’

  Simpson Construction, LLC had its first weekly Monday morning staff meeting in several months, at least the first one that I attended. There were ten of us and it seemed like nine of them were still talking five minutes after our scheduled start time. Some things never changed.

  “Sally, start us off, tell us about the equipment leasing business.” The format of the meeting was simple. Each of the four department managers would give a brief summary of their business concentrating on financial highlights, new business and projections before opening up the floor for questions. Problems were normally discussed with me in advance, but today was the exception. This was my first day back in the office.

  “Welcome back, Jim. It’s nice to get right down to business. For the last ten months we have been forced to listen to Ken tell stories for 45 minutes before we got started.” I smiled as the room erupted in denials from Ken and agreement from the other managers. I knew there was a semblance of truth in Sally’s dig, but that was part of who he is. You had to put up with a little BS once in a while, but it was worth it. Ken was my best friend and one of the smartest men I knew. I’ve seen him do diabolical Sudoku puzzles or the Sunday New York Times crossword puzzle in minutes. He also possessed a sometimes irritating penchant for spouting trivia on just about any subject you could think of. But I also knew I could trust him to bring problems to me that needed my attention. He did this only four times while I was in Milwaukee, one time being when Sally was having difficulty with her equipment leasing business. I remembered Ken’s call.

  “Jim, I see from the internet that you’re kicking some butt up there,” Ken started obliquely, obviously alluding to the ‘kick-ass’ theme that had spread to high schools throughout the country.

  “Who is this speaking?” I asked playing along with his game; “President Bush?”

  “No, this is someone much more important, and someone with a problem that only you can handle,” Ken answered, letting me know this wasn’t a social call. “Is this a good time?”

  “Continue, you have my undivided attention.”

  “Well, Sally’s isn’t doing as well on her own as we thought she would and I think she might want back into our company.” I was shocked. She had not said anything to me in the few times we had talked although I realized it had been several weeks since our last conversation. It had been only two years since I offered to let Sally spin off the leasing business and form her own company. She had been doing all the work anyway and I felt guilty for taking most of the profits. Sally Parkinson was my first hire when I came to Florida 15 years ago and started my equipment leasing business. She started as my assistant and gradually grew to a point where she basically ran the business while I concentrated on commercial mortgage and project financing. I wanted her to succeed.

  “What’s the problem? The leasing business was netting over $2M a month when we spun it off.”

  “Talk to her, Jim. I have a few ideas, but I think you should hear it from her.”

  “I’ll call her tonight. Maybe she just misses our Monday staff meetings?” I joked.

  “That might be closer to the truth than you think,” Ken responded before saying good night.

  Ken was right on target. I called Sally minutes later and we talked for almost an hour before Sally got to the heart of her problem. “Jim, I just miss you guys and the support we gave each other. It’s not as much fun when you are making all the decisions alone.”

  Two of Sally’s key people had gone off on their own, taking some good clients with them. She had also made a few decisions that backfired and one of her major sources of funding had changed their name to CIT Vendor Financing. They were now competing for the same business, but with lower lease rates. She needed the bank relationships that our mortgage financing business enjoyed.

  “Jim, I’d like to come back. Do you have room for an old friend?”

  I realized how tough it must be for Sally to ask, but she should have known that I would never turn her down. I didn’t hesitate.

  “Sally, let’s go back to the way it was. Your leasing group keeps 50% of the profits from the leasing business and 10% of the profit from the other departments. Is that fair?”

  “It’s more than fair Jim, especially since Roger and Marco are probably making 10 times what I’m making in leasing. Will they agree to that?”

  “You were with me at the beginning, Sally, and besides, they don’t have a choice. I’m sure they will be happy to have you back. It won’t be long and you will be back on top.” That was three months ago and we were proven right.

  “Gentlemen,” Sally continued, “I’m happy to say that the equipment leasing business is looking good. Thanks to Roger’s help, we have three new capital sources that allow us to compete with the big boys for major deals. I am revising my annual forecast upward by 45% in revenues which translates to a 30% increase in net profit.”

  “Why the squeeze on margins?” Ken interrupted. “Are we talking mix or lower lease rates?”

  “Some of both, Ken. We’re bidding a couple big, low margin deals including a high-speed internet access system for all Marriott hotels. It’s a $6M dollar deal, but we needed to keep our margins low because we were competing against CIT and GE Capital.”

  “What’s the other reason, Sally?” I asked, picking up on her statement that this was only some of the reason.

  Sally smiled thinly. “I’m going after market share and trying to win back the clients my former friends took with them when they quit. So far we have gotten seven of Andy’s clients back, including his brother-in-law who owns that trucking fleet. I’m going after Ray next. They don’t have the client base to withstand these losses for long.”

  “Will you take them back if they beg and say pretty-please?” We knew the answer, but Ken wanted to hear it from Sally.

  “If they ask real nice, I can always use another clerk.”

  The wrath of some women has no limits. I made a note to talk with Sally later about considering the possibility that bringing these guys back might benefit the business; after all, they had been good employees for several years before going off on their own. It never hurts to keep an open mind.

  “Okay, Roger, your turn. How’s the commercial mortgage business looking?”

  “I’m going to keep this real short and simple, Jim, unless Ken has a lot of questions.” He knew the word ‘simple’ would get a reaction from Ken and he wasn’t disappointed.

  “Just try not to use any big words,” Ken retorted. “Keeping it simple should be easy.”

  “Boys, that’s enough.” Nothing changes, I mused. “Roger!”

  “Revenues are up, net margins are up and we expect to exceed our forecasted net profit by 18% this year. We have 15 deals in our backlog and expect to close $28M this month. Questions?”

  “How many deals are we closing?” I asked trying to get an idea of the average size.

  “Six,” Roger answered, looking at Ken.

  “$4,666,667, rounded off to the nearest dollar,” Ken replied on queue.

  “I’m happy to see your math skills haven’t deteriorated,” I thought. It used to be more fun when p
eople used a calculator check his answers, but nobody bothered anymore. He was never wrong.

  “Okay, Marco, Your turn, but keep it short; we are running short of time and there are a few other things we still need to cover.” Marco Noah was the backbone of both our domestic and international construction business. After some initial problems, he was also one of my most trusted employees. I could count on him to let me know if there were problems or something that needed my attention. It was a good day when we had hired Marco away from the French construction giant, Bouygues.

  “Short, I can do. We have nine domestic jobs in progress and only the Chicago convention center is behind schedule. The project is getting caught up in zoning issues and politics. It seems like a couple of aldermen are not getting their fair share. It might not hurt if we placed a call to the mayor.”

  I made a note to get together with Marco after the meeting and get up to speed on the details before I called Mayor Daley. “Okay, what’s going on across the water?”

  “Six projects, and all are going well. We should be getting a sign-off on the Madrid Tennis Arena sometime next month.”

  “Excellent, does that mean they will release the hold-back?”

  “Yep, the entire $45 million.”

  “How does new business look?”

  “We have proposals on four small projects, but nothing imminent. We could use a little work,” Marco concluded. His segue was perfect.

  “Ken, speaking of new business, why don’t you tell us about Ethiopia?” I smiled as I saw the shocked expressions on everyone’s face.

  “Ethiopia,” Sally repeated. “What are we going to build, sand castles? Ethiopia is nothing but a big desert.”

  “Ah, contrar - contrar,” Ken smiled with delight at the opportunity to educate the uninformed. “Let me tell you about the real Ethiopia.”

  I had heard his dissertation and stepped in before Ken got rolling. “Ken, let’s save the history lesson for another day, I have a conference call at noon. Just tell us about the project.”

  Ken was obviously disappointed, but got in one parting shot. “Ignorance is bliss,” he chided before starting. “We have been hired to build a four star tourist resort on Lake Tana, just a few miles from the city of Gondar. Questions?” This was Ken’s way of pouting.

  “You might mention the dam and give us just a little background information,” I suggested. “Oh yeah, the dam; I’m sure everyone already knows that Lake Tana is an inland lake located in the Simeon Mountains and is the source of the Nile River, you know the one that dribbles down through Egypt, Sudan and the Middle East before emptying into the Mediterranean.”

  “You’re kidding me,” Roger exclaimed. “Egypt would never allow anyone to block the Nile, especially a backward country such as Ethiopia. That’s their lifeline.”

  Ken smiled; he had everyone’s attention again. “I didn’t say it was an easy project, did I? There are obviously a few political concerns,” he said as an understatement. “And by the way, Ethiopia has been a cultural center for the region for over 3,000 years, dating back to when …”

  “Ken, we don’t have time. Tell them a little about the resort.”

  “Where should I begin?”

  “How about mentioning why Ethiopia and the Lake Tana area is an ideal location for a resort.” Ken had his opportunity to lecture.

  “Okay, but I’m sure that everyone already knows that the Ark of the Covenant is kept in Axum, Ethiopia and was hidden at the Monastery of Daga Stephanos on an island in Lake Tana for several hundred years after it was taken from Solomon’s Temple.” I smiled to myself at Ken’s ability to memorize trivia, but he got the reaction he wanted.

  “Ethiopia! How did the Ark ever get to Ethiopia,” Roger asked. “That must be 500 miles from Jerusalem.”

  “Just a four month boat ride up the Nile,” Ken interjected, “with possibly a 200 year layover in a monastery on Elephantine Island in Egypt.”

  “But why Ethiopia?”

  In the interest in brevity I decided to take charge. “Needless to say, this can be a long and interesting discussion. All we need to understand now is that the combination of lakes, the Ark rumors and moderate temperatures make this an ideal tourist destination. You will be surprised to see that the plateau region has plenty of rainfall even though much of the country is desert. I’m sure Ken will provide you with more information if you buy him lunch.”

  “How did we get a job in Ethiopia?” one of the project managers persisted. “I don’t recall us getting a request for proposal or submitting any bid.”

  “There was no bid, Frank. This was a sole source award courtesy of a State Department contact Matthew Wilson made when he was in D.C. testifying before Congress about his We Kick Ass program.”

  “How do we get paid?” Rosann asked. “Is this a fixed fee contract?”

  “No, it’s a cost plus contract, but I would estimate our profits will be in the $45M range.”

  “Wow, how much did we give Matthew for the referral?”

  “Nothing, Frank, although I offered. His exact words were, “Coach, I don’t take money from friends, but maybe someday you will be in position to help me out.”

  “We also volunteered to donate 10% of gross revenue to local charities,” Ken added.

  “Okay, one more item on the agenda before we get back to work. Due to the amount of work we are doing overseas, I have hired a vice president of security. She will be responsible for establishing physical security on project sites, vetting subcontractors and whatever else we can think of.”

  “Anyone we know?” Marco inquired.

  “Some of you that have been with me for a while know her well; she was my third employee after my secretary Gloria, and Sally.”

  “You’re kidding,” Ken said with his mouth agape.

  “Chris Lewis?” Sally said, unable to hold back her laughter.

  “For those of you that don’t know, Chris Lewis Reed is a Harvard MBA, is fluent in French and Spanish, and has ten years experience with the DEA and CIA. She worked on the Mexico City casino job which is what got us started in the international construction business. She’s well qualified.”

  “But she married Ken,” Sally managed to say while continuing to laugh. “Doesn’t that say something about her judgment?”

  “It certainly does,” Ken gloated. “You forget it was moi that ran through a hail of bullets to save her life in Mexico.”

  That wasn’t quite the way I remembered it, but there was a kernel of truth in Ken’s recollection.

  “Okay, back to work everybody.”

  Chapter 3 - Freshman Year - Al McGuire Era

  1961 Ohio State Buckeyes