Brian Well:
CLASS OF 1974
Franklin High SchoolClass of 1974
Franklin, WI
Brian's Story
I realize that whoever reads this will undoubtedly have a memory (or not) of me that is rightfully biased as to my behavior(s) during high school from 1970-1974. The following is my biased update since then. There I was, a skinny 18 year old who "skated" through high school and got accepted to U.W. Madison largely because I was breathing and could walk upright. So, unlike me, I was partying a bit too hard with friends between my first and second semester when I came down with Mono. Didn't do well that second semester and began having second thoughts about what a waste of money, effort and time that was. So, I took a couple of easy music-related classes through UW Milwaukee and worked part-time until registering at UW Oshkosh, worked my way through and got a B.S. in Economics plus a Business Minor. By then it was 1981. I knew I was way behind the curve and found jobs at that time were not easy to come by. I worked at Transamerica, National Development and Investment and finally Saunders Leasing when I decided to move from Okauchee to Chicago in April 1987. This, in my eyes, was my first life-defining moment. There was this woman, you see, and an exciting new job opportunity to work on the Mercantile Exchange futures trading floor. That was 1987 and I happened to be in the right place at the right time (finally) where I worked along side people trading trillions of dollars worth of financial instrument contracts (derivatives) every day. I knew immediately that this was the place for me and worked extremely hard to learn how to apply my economic knowledge and match it with going long or short at the right time. After getting married ('88), buying a first home ('90), becoming a father of two kids ('91, '92), and feeling successful, I was offered a job in Paris where we went to live for 14 months ('92 - '93). That was definitely another life-defining moment/experience. Having an open-ended contract to come back any time for any reason, we decided to move back when my father-in-law became ill. I began working at the Chicago Board of Trade but my father-in-law passed away and it was during this time that the pressures to continue working in that fast-paced business helped me decide it was time (summer '95) to bow out and pursue another career where I could have a less-hurried lifestyle and enjoy a flexible work sched...Expand for more
ule such that quality time with family (my new priority) could become more of a reality than a wish. My father-in-law passed away in the summer of 1995. Soon after, I was introduced to a small operation that wanted to expand in the Chicagoland area. I began some training with this occupational safety consulting firm based in Ohio in 1995. As their Director of Chicago Operations, I built a small business for them. With all my family (grandma, mom, dad, brother, cousins, aunts and uncles)still in Wisconsin, we decided to move. Bought a home in the Village of Oconomowoc Lake (fall '95), added an addition in 1996 and finally moved in in 1997. The stretch of time from 1997-2006 was filled with volunteer efforts at schools, working on the board of the American Society of Safety Engineers (Wisconsin Chapter)... balancing work & family. I've been operating my own safety consulting practice (Bridgewell Safety Associates) since 1997. Since I had not attended ALL of the U.W. system campuses, I enrolled at U.W. Whitewater and took 3 post-graduate level night classes over an 18 month period in 2006/2007...my first stretch of straight A's. Continuing to have a financial "calling", I began trading stocks on line, took a (failed) run at the CFA Level 1 exam and got a Wisconsin insurance license. I'm left with trading stocks. My daughter is now attending her first year at the University of Miami (Coral Gables), named the best party school by Playboy magazine...tell me about it. My son is working his way through his High School Senior year. My awesome wife Julie, who hales from Ohio (Ohio State grad) has operated her PR Communications Consulting practice (Danbridge Communications)since 1993 after having worked at Hill & Knowlton and Golin Harris - both in Chicago. I am currently looking at the possibility of making another career change, this time geographically. Since my kids are both at/near college age and both looking at schools in the south, and it is warm in the south during the winter, and I can't boat or golf here in the winter....well, you get the picture. It is now the fall of '09 and, although our country is wallowing in the basement of the deepest and most damaging recession sine "the big one", I am keeping my eyes and options open for local consulting work and full time job opportunities in various southern states.
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