1959

HAPPY SPRINGTIME! Recent news from the Financial Times quotes Einar Kloster, president of the Philips Lighting Division of Philips, saying that his company "has caught up with the competition's new lighting products, such as halogen lamps, after falling behind in 1990." Einar is also closing a French plant and advises that a "window" has been opened by its competitors' efforts to digest recent acquisitions, and Philips must take advantage of this and concentrate on becoming a low-cost producer. The Dutch company's aim is to equip its European factories to produce at least 200 million light bulbs a year. Wow! Congrats. Einar keeps "turning on" those great results.

And now from Automotive News we hear about our own Jim Lust, who brings a wealth of knowledge to the Automotive Dealers Association, especially since Jim assumed the presidency of this organization in February. As noted in a previous column, Jim's company, Lust Chevrolet/Buick, is located in Aberdeen, S.D., and sells about 1,400 new and used cars annually, more used than new. Jim advises, "I have done very well in the dealership, and Vicki and I both believe in giving back. I love community activities, I love this town, I love this state—I have a love affair with South Dakota." Jim plans for his year as president to include a crusade against mandatory advertising associations, helping more minority dealers get into the business and then succeed, advising dealers to de-emphasize market share and focus more on profits, and, most importantly, seeing manufacturers return to profitability without taking it out of the dealer's hide.

Now to Weston, Conn., and a long-awaited progress report from Dave Allen of Allen & Associates. "The first nine months of operation were great fun, very busy, and profitable. 1993 is to be another busy year as we are moving from Weston to Winston-Salem, N.C., and will see the building of a new home."

Great update from the Sam Adams family, with Nancy doing the honors. They have returned to New Hampshire after 30 years in the West. After Sam resigned as. department head of Geology and Geological Engineering at Colorado School of Mines, Sam and Nancy relocated to Lincoln, N.H., where Sam grew up. He has returned to consulting, working out of his home, a small but rapidly growing ski house. He has been active as director of Loon Mountain, the ski area Sam's father started 25 years ago. Unexpectedly, Sam found himself president of Loon Mountain. "Now he is president of a ski area in New Hampshire part of the month, and a gold-consultant geologist in Denver and Nevada the other part of the month. Makes life interesting," says Nancy. Nancy gets to travel a lot with Sam and see daughter Kate on a ranch outside Reno and daughter Melinda in Denver. Son Jonathan is just recently married in Lincoln. Nancy also keeps this whole group organized—quite a job. Thanks for the input.

See you all next month, and please keep your correspondence coming.

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