Karen Lang:  

After graduating from Alvernia, my father rushed to get me into "any old college" which turned out to be Northeastern Illinois University. I attended for 2 1/2 years and in my sophomore year was voted Sweetheart of the Lamda Pi Chapter of the on campus TKE fraternity. It was a pretty big deal at the time, crown, front page of the paper, tuxedo's etc. Sort of shallow, really, but the dance was fun! I met my first husband in this fraternity at Northeastern and although he did graduate, I did not. I spent more time playing pinnocle in the cafeteria than studying and partying was a way of life. I was drawn into all the activity of "corporate and financial life" on La Salle Street downtown, where I worked my way up from an insurance agency "girl friday" to supervising a unit of people at Combined Insurance. I got married to the TKE guy (for 1 1/2 years) and got divorced. What can I say, it was the 70's....rebellion! I met my second husband at Combined and moved on to work at a large employee benefits consulting house, Alexander and Alexander (now Aon) where sex discrimination was rampant. I started an in house women's network and at the end of 1 1/2 years, the department head was demoted; women started to get promoted (treated equally) and the corporate organization out of Baltimore revised their job posting and promotion procedures so women could advance in the organization. I am most proud of this work because it caused real and positive change for women in the company across the entire U.S. Hummm, did Alvernia get me thinking this way?? You bet! I went to work for Midas International and returned to school to get my B.S.B.A. from Elmhurst College in 1985. In 1987 my second husband took a job in Connecticut and we relocated. It was to have been our second chance; you see, he had cheated and I was foolish enough to say sure, you deserve a second chance! Wrong! Neve...Expand for more