Retirement 101

Here I sit at 11 am on a Monday, with a short to-do list and a lunch date lined up. My last day as a corporate citizen was Friday Jan 25th 2013.  The day flew by, with many heartfelt goodbyes and an amazing Retirement party thrown by the Innovation Team at GMCR. A great turnout, with about 50 folks, including George and the girls.

After very kind and funny words from my bosses Joel White and Tom Berry (two of the best leaders you could ever work for -- and I'm not just sucking up, honest), here are my remarks -

"I don't know how to retire. But I think it's like parenting -- you learn as you go along. So in the spirit of the data-driven business that Green Mountain Coffee Roasters is trying to become, I used a format some might remember from the old Harper's Magazine monthly Index. Here is...

Candelin’s Career By the Numbers 

• Years in Vermont - 38

• Companies  - 10

• Brands  - 20

• Bosses – 22

• Record # of timelines I managed at once -  17

• # of Sales Meetings/ Trade Shows  - 45

• # of times I tried to outdrink sales people  - 1

Candelin's GMCR Facts:

• How many things I have in common with Larry Blanford - 2

• Born the same year

• Retired the same year

• What I don’t have in common with Larry – Number of stock options!

• Training Hours  at GMCR since 2009 - 547

• Hours spent in RIEs  (Rapid Improvement Events - inside joke) - 170

But here’s what really counts, and I’ve had too many of these to count:

• Great teams      

• Amazing brands and products    

• Lasting friendships

Thank you for this wonderful party! And thanks to GMCR for making my last job my best job!

Cake and toys and road trip supplies  oh my!

Hand-made gifts are the best! The coffee bag sign is directly from a farm near those I visited in Colombia in 2011.

Time to start packing up the Mazda

No way to express my gratitude for all the cards and gifts!

So nice to have Drew and Jamie home for the festivities! (Jamie took these pix so you have to imagine her in the photo)

3 Ben & Jerry's alums: Lisa Gibbons (center), Denise Dean (left) and moi

Here I am at 26, George is 29 (right) - early job as writers at Garden Way. On left is Greg Deily from Troy NY in Dick Raymond's demonstration gardens in N. Ferrisburgh VT

Ok - I'm ready!