Cliff Stearns: “I want to thank George and Charles for their report and for their outstanding leadership for these very important former…”

“I want to thank George and Charles for their report and for their outstanding leadership for these very important former Members of the Congress programs, and we appreciate very much what you do. Normally, at this juncture in our report, I highlight each of the former Members' staff members, briefly describe their areas of responsibility and perhaps add a personal note, but since I worked so closely with each of them over the past couple of years, I cannot do that this year simply because our team has grown so much larger. There is just not enough time anymore to do that. In our written report, which will be submitted into the Record, you will find their names and the tremendous contribution each and every one of them has made. However, I do want to highlight two names. First, our CEO, Pete Weichlein, as you may know, he has been with the former Members of Congress in various positions since 1999, which means in just a couple of months, he will celebrate his 20-year anniversary with us. When he became CEO in 2003, the staff consisted of him and an unpaid intern--incredible. There was enough money in the bank for a couple of Capitol Hill programs and 3 or 4 months of rent and payroll. An active year with FMC consisted of five Congress to Campus visits plus some lunches focusing on Germany.…”