Joe DePinto EMP-42, Oprah Winfrey and Igor Finkler

EMP-42

I received a long overdue update from Joe DePinto! He and wife Ingrid have been in Dallas for the last nine years and are truly enjoying living in that area of the country. They have four sons, of which two are now in college. His oldest John is a junior at West Point and Nick is a sophomore at SMU. Their other two boys, Joey (15) and Danny (10) both play football and love Texas.

After Joe graduated from Kellogg, he headed operations for 7-Eleven for several years then left to take the position of president of GameStop Corporation. He was enjoying his tenure at GameStop when 7-Eleven called and asked him to return as CEO ... which was an offer too good to pass up! He has been CEO at 7-Eleven for the past five years. Recently he had the opportunity to represent 7-Eleven on the CBS show prime-time show, "Undercover Boss." Joe found this to be a great experience and enjoyed being able to recognize some of the 7-Eleven team members so publically. He also then had an opportunity to do a segment about "Undercover Boss" on the "Oprah Winfrey Show" in Chicago. It too was a great experience — plus he was able to give away a new franchise store to Igor Finkler (one of 7-Eleven's unsung heroes highlighted in the CBS broadcast)! Joe's advice to anyone offered to do "Undercover Boss" is to "go for it!" Joe has visited Kellogg on many occasions over the years and loves the opportunity to catch up with the EMP staff and professors.

Other big news to report! SM&A, the world's leading program lifecycle consulting firm providing strategic, integrated solutions in business development and program services for government contractors, acquired Cardinal Technologies Inc. headquartered in Potomac, M.D. Cardinal Technologies was founded and led by Earl Furfine. Cardinal Technologies provides program management office (PMO) and technology services support to government and industry clients. Cardinal excels at helping clients establish and maintain PMOs that meet the exacting requirements of federal and state governments, project management institute and private enterprise. Additionally, Cardinal's technology services practice provides the competence, experience, and broad technology skills to ensure government IT projects are successfully designed, implemented, tested, operated and managed to meet all business objectives. Congratulations to Earl!

Joe DePinto EMP-42 was featured on the OprahWinfrey Show.