
The People in the Room: Lessons Learned Along the Way
It all started with a committee. That’s probably how it ends too, but let’s wait a minute for that. Roy Pruett, a friend and former Mayor of Oak Ridge, chaired the meeting. I had just been a part of his retirement roast, and wasn’t totally sure he was still a friend. Joe Lenhard, retired from the Department of Energy, was full of energy. Joe would be the chair of ETEC after Mayor Pruett and was the strongest proponent of Oak Ridge until his dying days. Also around the table was former ORNL Director Herman Postma, my old boss and Oak Ridger newspaper owner Tom Hill, entrepreneur Pete Craven, then Oak Ridge Chamber President Tom Rogers, and business owner Ben Adams (whose wife worked for me at The Oak Ridger). I knew them all, and all of them were a lot smarter than me.