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General Essex entered the Air Force in 1973 as a distinguished graduate of Miami University's ROTC program. He is a command pilot with more than 3,500 flying hours in various models of the KC-135 and EC-135. His operational experience includes command of a squadron, an operations group and two wings. General Essex led unit deployments for operations Restore Hope and Southern Watch, served as installation commander in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and participated in Operation Deny Flight.

Prior to assuming his current position, General Essex was Director of Plans and Programs, Headquarters Air Mobility Command, Scott Air Force Base, Ill., where he was responsible for force structure planning and programming, doctrine, requirements, manpower and analysis for the nations airlift and refueling force.

EDUCATION
1973 Bachelor of Arts degree in zoology and physiology, Miami University
1979 Master's degree in business management, Central Michigan University
1979 Squadron Officer School, Maxwell AFB, Ala.
1985 Air Command and Staff College, Maxwell AFB, Ala.
1990 Master's degree in national security and strategic studies, Naval War College, Newport, R.I.
1996 Advanced Management Program, Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pa.
1999 Joint Force Air Component Commander Course, Maxwell AFB, Ala.
2000 Russian-U.S. Executive Program, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.

ASSIGNMENTS
1. September 1973 - October 1974, student, undergraduate pilot training, Vance AFB, Okla.
2. April 1975 - April 1980, KC-135A co-pilot, aircraft commander and instructor pilot, 911th Air Refueling Squadron, Seymour Johnson AFB, N.C.
3. April 1980 - December 1982, KC-135 and EC-135 flight examiner, training flight instructor and special operations program manager, 305th and 70th air refueling squadrons, Grissom AFB, Ind.
4. January 1983 - August 1984, aide to the Commander, 8th Air Force, Barksdale AFB, La.
5. August 1984 - June 1985, student, Air Command and Staff College, Maxwell AFB, Ala.
6. July 1985 - November 1987, Deputy Chief, Programs Development Division, Headquarters Strategic Air Command, Offutt AFB, Neb.
7. November 1987 - July 1989, Commander, 92nd Air Refueling Squadron, Fairchild AFB, Wash.
8. August 1989 - June 1990, student, Naval War College, Newport, R.I.
9. June 1990 - April 1992, professor, joint military operations and head of the Strategy and Operations Division, Naval War College, Newport, R.I.
10. April 1992 - July 1993, Commander, 453rd Operations Group, Fairchild AFB, Wash.
11. July 1993 - March 1994, Assistant Director of Operations and Transportation, Headquarters AMC, Scott AFB, Ill.
12. March 1994 - December 1995, Commander, 19th Air Refueling Wing, Robins AFB, Ga.
13. December 1995 - November 1996, Deputy Director of Plans, Headquarters AMC, Scott AFB, Ill.
14. November 1996 - November 1998, Commander, 92nd Air Refueling Wing, Fairchild AFB, Wash.
15. November 1998 - April 2000, Deputy Director, NATO's Reaction Force Air Staff, Kalkar, Germany
16. April 2000 - February 2003, Mission Area Director, Global Reach Programs, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C.
17. February 2003 - June 2005, Director of Plans and Programs, Headquarters AMC, Scott AFB, Ill.
18. June 2005 - present, Commander, Army and Air Force Exchange Service, Dallas, Texas

FLIGHT INFORMATION
Rating: Command pilot
Flight hours: More than 3,500
Aircraft flown; T-37, T-38, KC-135A/R/T and EC-135L/G

MAJOR AWARDS AND DECORATIONS
Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster
Meritorious Service Medal with four oak leaf clusters
Aerial Achievement Medal
Air Force Commendation Medal with oak leaf cluster
Navy Commendation Medal

EFFECTIVE DATES OF PROMOTION
Second Lieutenant June 10, 1973
First Lieutenant Sept. 24, 1975
Captain Sept. 24, 1977
Major Aug. 1, 1984
Lieutenant Colonel May 1, 1987
Colonel Jan. 1, 1992
Brigadier General Oct. 15, 1997
Major General Oct. 1, 2000

Mark Dixon has been working in the natural foods industry for over 25 years. He started with Whole Foods Market 23 years ago, in 1984.

He has been the Store Team Leader at three different stores, a Regional Vice President and is currently the President of the Southwest Region.

Mark’s duties as Regional President include growing and developing the region. He currently oversees 16 stores, one distribution center, and three bakehouses.

Stan Richards Principal/Creative Director. Stan founded The Richards Group as a freelance practice after graduating from Pratt Institute in New York. Over the next 29 years, it became one of the nation’s premier creative resources. In 1976, it became a full-service advertising agency.

His work has received awards in virtually every major competition in the world. In 1976, Stan was chosen by the Dallas Society of Visual Communications as “the single individual who, over his career, has made the most significant contribution
to the advancement of creative standards in the Southwestern United States.” In 1981, 1983, and 1984, Stan was named by Adweek to the Southwest Creative All-Stars Hall of Fame. In 1985, The Richards Group was named Southwest All-Stars Creative Team. That same year, Stan was honored by Pratt Institute as a Distinguished Alumnus. In 1986, he was honored with an Advertising Age cover story. Also in 1986, Adweek named him Executive of the Year, and he was included in The Wall Street Journal’s “Giants of Our Time.” In 1988, the firm was named Agency of the Year by Adweek. Again in 1990 and 1994. And once more in 2002. In 1995, Stan was named an Entrepreneur of the Year by Inc. magazine.

The University of Texas named him the 1996 recipient of the Reddick Award for leadership in communication. Previous honorees include Walter Cronkite, Ted Turner, and Bill Moyers. More recently, Southern Methodist University announced the Stan Richards Creative Chair.

Also in 1996, Stan was the recipient of the AIGA Gold Medal, the award for career achievement in design. In 1997, Graphis magazine named The Richards Group one of the 10 best agencies in the world, and the American Association of Advertising Agencies honored the firm with its A+ Award, given annually to America’s best agency.

In 1999, Stan received the highest honor available to a creative with his election to the Art Directors Hall of Fame, joining such luminaries as Walt Disney, Norman Rockwell, and Andy Warhol.

Apart from business, Stan’s interests include skiing in Utah and fly-fishing the backwaters of Laguna Madre. He is an avid runner, having logged 40,000 miles.

In addition, Stan serves, or has served, as a director of The Salvation Army, Episcopal School of Dallas, YMCA, Cooper Aerobics Enterprises, Dallas Symphony Association, United Way, and the Creative Committee of the AAAA.

Stan and Betty have been married 48 years and have two sons. Grant is a creative director at his own agency in San Francisco, and Brad is a clinical psychologist.

Cheryl Holland Bridges, Director of the Center for Retailing Studies, brings over 25 years experience in the retail industry to Mays Business School and Texas A&M University.

Prior to joining Texas A&M University she served as Senior Vice President of Merchandising for luxury Internet retailer, Ashford.com. There she directed merchandising for all products sold on the site – watches, jewelry, decorative home furnishings, handbags, writing instruments, and sunglasses.

Prior to joining Ashford.com, Cheryl Bridges served as vice president of merchandising for two divisions of Federated Department Stores and two fine specialty store chains. Bridges was a buyer for juniors, children’s, young men’s apparel, ladies apparel, accessories, and jewelry; a Divisional Merchandise Manager for juniors; and Vice President for ready to wear, accessories, cosmetics, shoes, and accessories. She has in-depth experience in merchandising and product development domestically and abroad for brick and mortar stores, catalogs and Internet retailers.

Bridges also served as the senior vice president of fashion merchandising and product development for the New York corporate office for BATUS stores which included Saks Fifth Avenue and Marshall Field.

Cheryl Bridges brings her experience to the Center for Retailing Studies as director of the Center’s programs and to the classroom, teaching merchandising. She is an honor graduate of Texas Woman’s University, and has received the University’s Distinguished Alumna Award. She is also a member of Fashion Group International, the American Collegiate Retailing Association, and the Associations of Former Students of both Texas Woman’s University and Texas A&M University.

November 15, 2006 Dinner Meeting

R O D N E Y W H I T E

Director of Information

LANCE ARMSTRONG FOUNDATION

Topic: - "Innovation Under Pressure - Managing Explosive Growth"

In this inside look at the LAF transformation, Rodney lead an interactive discussion of the best practices that apply to all retailers who require agility in the face of intense competition and rapid change.

While amassing more than 20 years of experience in various aspects of technology and information management, Rodney White is driven by an overarching personal mission: use technology and informatics for the greater good of the world. This mission led White to the Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF), where he serves an integral role in allowing the LAF to fulfill its mission to inspire and empower people affected by cancer. White’s work at the LAF earned him the recognition of CIO Magazine which honored him with a 2006 CIO100 Award. The award recognizes the integration, automation and re-engineering of the LAF’s organizational and technical processes, vendors and services during the height of the LIVESTRONG® wristband campaign where more than 55 million of the yellow wristbands have been sold to date.

By early 2005, the phenomenal success of the LIVESTRONG (R) wristband campaign had resulted in significant system and process challenges for the Lance Armstrong Foundation (350% revenue growth, 10X growth in constituent base to 2MM). In addition, the approaching Tour de France in July 2005 represented a make-or-break deadline for the organization to effectively scale its internal processes and resources.

October 18, 2006 Dinner Meeting

C A R L E. S T E I D T M A N N

Chief Economist

DELOITTE RESEARCH

Topic of the evening: - "Growth Challenges for Retailers"

Carl E. Steidtmann, Chief Economist for Deloitte Research, is a nationally recognized expert on economic forecasting of retail sales activity, consumer, technology and general economic trends.

Based in New York, Dr. Steidtmann works with individual clients in assessing the impact of economic, demographic, political and technological changes on their business strategies. He has also testified on numerous occasions as an expert witness on retailing related issues in both state and federal courts.

His research has been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, Women's Wear Daily, USA Today and The New York Times, among other publications. Dr. Steidtmann has appeared on the MacNeil-Lehrer News Hour, CNBC, and the Nightly Business Report as an expert on consumer issues.

Prior to joining Deloitte Research Dr. Steidtmann was with PricewaterhouseCoopers where he authored or co-authored over 400 publications on economics, demographics, competition and socio-technological trends as they relate to business. Dr. Steidtmann was Vice President with Nakagama & Wallace, a Wall Street firm that consults on world economic trends, exchange rates and equity markets.

He has also served as senior advisor and economist for the American Productivity Center, where he acted as the technical adviser to the White House Conference on Productivity. He was an economics instructor at the University of Colorado, and worked with Mountain Bell as an internal systems consultant and with IBM as a systems engineer.

Dr. Steidtmann is a frequent conference and after dinner speaker on marketing, technology, consumer trends and the general economic outlook. He has addressed a hundreds of groups on economics, technology and productivity, including the National Retail Federation, the Food Marketing Institute, and the International Mass Retail Association in addition to individual companies.

An award-winning instructor and systems analyst, Dr. Steidtmann was selected one of the 25 most influential consultants for 2003 by Consulting Magazine for his work in consumer spending forecasting.

Dr. Steidtmann earned his Ph.D., master's and bachelor's degrees from the University of Colorado, majoring in economics, statistics, and history, respectively.

September 20, 2006 Dinner Meeting

J U L I E S P I C E R E N G L A N D

Vice President, General Manager RFid Systems

TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED

Topic of the evening: "RFID: Making it Work for You"

Julie England is a vice president of Texas Instruments and the general manager of Texas Instruments RFid Systems. In this capacity, she is responsible for shaping the overall strategy for and directing TI’s RFID business, which is the world’s largest integrated manufacturer of wireless identification transponders. The group’s technology is used by Fortune 1000 businesses in industries including automotive, retail, supply chain, pharmaceutical, livestock and others.

Previously, Julie led the Sun Microsystems business unit of TI, which provides custom, high-performance microprocessors. At TI, she has held a variety of leadership positions in product engineering, wafer fabrication, quality and business management, and became a vice president in 1994.