It was great to be with everyone in Palm Beach!

Based upon the feedback, there were a lot of take-homes. Of course a personal highlight for me in addition to a face-paced high content meeting is the networking which takes place before, during and after these meetings. As with last year, I felt that we were particularly honored to have Vice President Quayle speak to us in this relatively intimate setting.

We received excellent suggestions for our next Mergers and Acquisitions Conference. Specifically, there seemed to be a consensus that we delve into more detail on some of the following areas:

• H.R. due diligence
• Tax issues for buyer and seller
• Making the acquired company part of your culture · Finding the deals
• More on negotiations – actual structure of the deal
• What successful acquisitions have in common
• “Grooming” the business for potential merger and/or divestiture

Finally, I continue to hear universally positive comments on J.D. Ford. I trust that you will freely avail yourself of this valuable resource which is part of your CEN membership.

Best regards,