Deauville

Deauville was fabulous. It was probably the poshest Christmas company party I have ever attended. Our present was a Hermes tie. Okay, it was an extremely ugly one, but still, I still have it and even wear it once in a while.

Proudfoot did not do very well in those days but they had lots of cash from which they bought IMR. In fact, it was management at Proudfoot which was rather weak; after that company meeting Proudfoot was mainly managed by IMR directors.

What I found very interesting, IMR was a young company with only a few older people working there. Proudfoot on the other was the exact opposite. Proudfoot was a truly international company though. They had strongholds in the US, Australia, and South Africa.

Oh yes, and as one can see from the picture above, we did have lots to drink that evening...

The Merger

One morning after we arrived at the job, the project manager (from that Telekom project) and I downloaded our e-mails. And there it was, the CEO of Proudfoot Consulting sent all of IMR a message that our company was taken over by them. We were now working for Proudfoot, the epitomisation of evil in the consulting industry. Well, at least with IMPAC we were brainwashed that way.

It was December 2000 and there was the company Christmas meeting in Deauville (Normandy, northern France, extremely posh seaside spa) coming up at which we would celebrate "our marriage".

One thing I have not told yet on here. Before I started with IMR I worked for Proudfoot for 2 weeks, did not like it, and left the company again since I got the offer from Paris which I much preferred.