From Dealmaker to Rehabber

Dartmouth alums are surfacing in an eclectic passel of the world's media. Consider these exemplars: Ed Victor '61 in Wmagazine; Mark Johnson '90 in the Japanese daily newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun Christine Birch '82 in Sister 2 Sifter magazine; Robert Fagna '67 in the Tampa Tribune; Wallace Ford II '70 in the Houston Chronicle.

The Wprofile on Ed Victor headlined him as "The Dealmaker," stating that he is "brash and (worst of all) American—but agent Ed Victor is London's main literary mogul." Wpointed out that his talents have won him an "art-filled London apartment, a house in the Hamptons and a gold Rolls-Royce."

Halfway around the globe, in Japan, first baseman Mark Johnson had a so-so season with the somewhat Steinbrenneresque Hanshin Tigers. Mostly he was pinch-hitting, but he hoped to retrieve his old job.

A new job, on the other hand, is what Christine Birch already has: senior vice president of North American marketing at Columbia Motion Pictures Group. This Sony and TriStar alum commented: "Never underestimate the power of a resume and cover letter."

It was an executive search firm rather than a resume that led to Robert Fagan's being tapped as CEO of the Florida-based public utility TECO Energy Cos., a company in transition with 66 subsidiaries and a slumping stock price. Fagan, who earned his spurs designing components for Admiral Rickover's nuclear submarines, considers TECO's situation an opportunity. "As far as I'm concerned, it could be the last Job of my life."

Wallace Ford figured prominently in a newspaper report on a latter-day Harlem Renaissance in which old brownstones are being bought and rehabbed by black professionals. A corporate lawyer on Park Avenue, Ford said it is "culturally im- portant, politically significant, and socially comfortable to settle here."

"At some point, if you have spirit and guts, you'regoing to pisspeople off,"says literary aagent EdVictor.