The Leprechaun A Publication of the Harper Woods Notre Dame Alumni Association www.friendsofnotredame.com - www.notredame-hw.com Keeping the Spirit of the Fightin’ Irish Alive Since 2005! SUMMER 2013 EDITION Pat O’Keefe ‘72 One of the Country’s Best Negotiators Page 3 Plus... Mark Binelli ‘88 Carl Marlinga ‘63 John Blum ‘77 Gary Dederichs ‘63 Dave Muczinski ‘90 Jim Mandl ‘90 Notes From You Upcoming Events Upcoming Reunions The LeprechaunSUMMER 2013 EDITION The Leprechaun is a newsletter devoted solely to the alumni and friends of Notre Dame High School of Harper Woods, Michigan. It is produced and distributed free of charge. For more information, please see the Notre Dame Alumni Association’s official website: www.friendsofnotredame.com. The Leprechaun WHAT’S INSIDE... A Publication of the Harper Woods Notre Dame Alumni Association www.friendsofnotredame.com - www.notredame-hw.com Keeping the Spirit of the Fightin’ Irish Alive Since 2005! 2 2013 ALumnI GOLF OUTIng SUMMER 2013 EDITION INTERVIEW WITH PAT O’KEEFE ‘72 One of the 3 Country’s Best Negotiators 6 CARL MARLINGA ‘63 Page 3 7 congraTULATIonS! Plus... Mark Binelli ‘88 Carl Marlinga ‘63 9 INTERVIEW WITH MARK bINELLI ‘88 John Blum ‘77 Jim Mandl ‘90 Notes From You Upcoming Events 13 NOTES from You Upcoming Reunions ON THE COVER: 14 JIM MandL ‘90 Pat O’Keefe ‘72 Page 3 14 Rodney Srodek ‘97 15 John BLum ‘77 17 UpcomIng ReunIonS THE LEPRECHAUN STAFF 18 Gary DederIchS ‘63 ALUMNI DIRECTOR PRESIDENT NDAA Dave MucZINSKI ‘90 19 REPORTER 19 ALumnI STore PHOTOGRAPHER LAYOUT EDITOR 20 In MemorIam Jim Mandl ‘90 RESEARCH ndaa SponSorS 21 Photographer CONTRIBUTING WRITER Jim Mandl ‘66 Want to advertise to over 5,000 Notre Dame Alumni? EDITOR Business card size ads are free! Marge Mandl (Regina ‘66) To place an ad on our web site or to become a sponsor, contact Jim Mandl ‘90 for more information: ARTIFACT CONTRIBUTOR [email protected]. Chet Szerlag ‘66 CONTRIBUTING The Leprechaun is published 4 - 7 times per year by PHOTOGRAPHER the Notre Dame Alumni Association. Rob DeBruyn ‘89 The newsletter’s address is CONTRIBUTING WRITER Friends of Notre Dame Eric Woodhouse ‘91 34322 Brookshire Sterling Heights, MI 48312 CONTRIBUTING WRITER 810-338-1009 Charlie Langton ‘79 [email protected] DISTRIBUTION INSIDE: Mike Olechowski ‘05 Interview with Mark Binelli ‘88 Page 9 The Notre Dame Alumni Association is an independently run 501(c)7 non-profit corporation. It is owned and operated by The Friends of Notre Dame High School, Inc. It is not affiliated with a currently existing school. Keeping the Spirit of the Fightin’ Irish Alive Since 2005! 1 THE LEPRECHAUN ALUMNI EVENT Second Annual Fr. John Bryson Memorial Golf Outing All Alumni and Friends of Notre Dame High School are invited to Join us Friday, June 28, 2013 for a shotgun start at 8am. Sycamore Hills Golf Club 48787 North Avenue, Macomb, MI 48042 Cost: $100 Per Golfer (Limited to 100 Golfers) Includes Prizes - 18 Holes with Cart - Closest to the Pin - Hot Dog, Chips, and Pop on the Turn - Longest Drive - Two-Meat Dinner Buffet After Golf - Skins - Two Hour Open Bar After Golf - Raffles - Two Drink Tickets for Each Golfer - Misc. Golf Items Sponsorships Sponsor a hole for just $75.00 Includes Sign at the Tee. Dinner Only Option - $25 Yes, I would like to Sponsor a Hole at the ND Golf Outing! Don’t golf? Join us for dinner and social hour! Name: ____________________ Class: _________ Yes, I would like to attend the golf outing for dinner and social hour only. Company: _______________________________ Name: ____________________ Class: _____ E-Mail Address: ___________________________ E-Mail Address: _______________________ Website: _________________________________ Submit Your Foursome No Later Than May 28, 2013 (Don’t have a foursome? Individual Golfers, Duos and Trios Welcome! We will round out your foursome.) Name: ____________________ Class: _______ Email: ______________ Name: ____________________ Class: _______ Email: ______________ Name: ____________________ Class: _______ Email: ______________ Name: ____________________ Class: _______ Email: ______________ Mail to: Make Checks Payable to: Friends of Notre Dame For More Info Please Friends of Notre Dame Contact Alumni Golf Alumni Golf Outing Outing Chair Person, 34322 Brookshire Jim DeWinter ‘87 Sterling Heights, MI 48312 [email protected] A portion of the proceeds will go to a scholarship for a student attending a catholic school. SUMMER 2013 2 ALUMNI INTERVIEW Interview with Pat O’Keefe ‘72 Pat O’Keefe ‘72 is a gifted negotiator. He is recognized as an expert in the fields of corporate reorganization, debt restructuring, turnaround consulting, refinancing solutions, due diligence support, valuation and litigation support. Pat’s company, O’Keefe and Associates, is recognized for its creative financing strategies for middle market companies and, in the last 24 months, has received national awards for debt refinancing, turnaround, and sale financing transactions. What, exactly, is the official way to describe back another layer of the onion to see what’s cherries in aside from pie filling or selling on your line of business? really driving it. roadside stands. Over the years, they had It’s a strategic financial advisory firm. Are you able to talk about some companies developed a cran-rasin for Ocean Spray by And what does that mean? you’ve helped? basically extracting the natural fruit juices and replacing it with a sucrose. That could We help companies that are going though some Most of our transactions are confidential. I’m be either Michigan beet sugar or a cane sugar. trauma or unusual circumstances and need some sure you can appreciate that companies who As you know, salt and sugar are preservatives assistance. They either don’t have the experience do business with troubled companies don’t like so that would give it a three or four year shelf or the depth and breadth in management to deal to extend credit to them, so I wouldn’t want to life. Their products were going into cereals, with their particular issues. get into that. I can tell you that we’ve handled trail mixes, baked goods, and a whole host of many well-known and long established family What sorts of issues? products that we use on a daily basis. They name brands in the metropolitan Detroit com- We get involved with companies who are having had some difficulty. They had a Japanese munity. Many of them you’d recognize and I’m a hard time paying their bills. They need some partner and they were expanding into some sure they produce products you’ve used. help developing a strategy to deal with creditors, areas that were unprofitable for them. They which could be their bank. And we help them You’ve won quite a number of awards. Can were making over 100 products and we figure out how to get cash flow positive so their you tell us about some of them? helped them get focused on their four main business has the ability to sustain. We do busi- Just in the last 12 months, our firm was recog- fruit products which were cranberries, apples, ness valuation work for companies who want nized for two great transactions. One was for cherries and blueberries. Their production to sell off or share ownership. We do litiga- work we did with a 160 lines were set up for long tion support for companies that have business year old mint flavoring runs and they kept inter- disputes - if they are fighting over dollars, we company out of Kal- rupting their production quantify the dollars. We help companies find amazoo, Michigan. It was line to drop in a product money, so everything revolves around the dollar. started by a family and that they didn’t sell a lot Typically... the bulk of our business... there is they ran into some finan- of. We discovered they an issue with cash flow. We handle 100 differ- cial difficulty. It was still a had too much inventory ent industries and 90% of the problem doesn’t highly profitable company because they were making necessarily have to do with the business itself, it’s - a company that makes things they couldn’t sell really the blocking and tackling (fundamentals) many of the products and their machines were that allow a company to flourish. We come in you’ve used. They put down a lot. We were usually because there is a shortfall of cash - the mint in mouthwashes able to introduce a metric company can’t make payroll, they owe credi- and Cadbury chocolates where they were able to tors money. The initial push is always cash and and the like. They had a get 2 more months of profitability. little hiccup and needed productivity out of the ex- some strategic planning Can you talk about the process you employ? isting machines - no new advice to help them be capital investment. That We go into a company and figure out which internationally competi- quickly helps the bottom products are profitable and which ones are not. tive. They sell their mint line. We ended up saving We determine if the company is right-sized in all over the world. There almost 300 jobs and the terms of operations for the type of company Carol and Pat O’Keefe ‘72. is a lot of pressure from company is flourishing they are. We look for excesses that could be cut India now in that industry. They had a con- today. We gave them a strategic and financial out, in terms of the operations, that wouldn’t stant need for cash for research and develop- plan to execute and they are knocking the negatively impact the business. We really help ment.