Q: Why was it important to you to join the Minneapolis Club?
A: I joined the Minneapolis Club in late 2011 or early 2012 at the urging of a number of good friends of mine who were members. Over the years, the Club has been and remains my home away from home, although the specific uses have evolved somewhat over time. Currently, the Club offers me a place to meet my friends, a place to relax after work, and a place to enjoy some special one-on-one time with my nearly four-year old son.
Q: How are you involved at the Club?
A: I currently serve on the Strategic Planning Committee of the Club and enjoy the opportunity to work with other members and our staff to help plan for the Club’s future. Beyond serving on that committee, I can often be found in either the bar or the gym, many times with one immediately following the other. While those uses are somewhat contradictory, the gym and the bar are my opportunity to relax and return to “normal” after a long day at work. I can also usually be found having a Saturday morning breakfast in the Grill, either chasing after my son or enjoying some time with my friends.
Q: Describe your work.
A: I’m a litigation attorney at Bassford Remele, an approximately 45-lawyer litigation firm in Downtown Minneapolis. My practice focuses on complex commercial litigation and defending lawyers in ethics and malpractice matters. In addition, I was recently named our firm’s Associate General Counsel, with a special emphasis on advising the firm and our lawyers on issues relating legal ethics.
Q: How is the Club helping you reach professional and personal goals?
A: This is one is easy. Personally, the Club serves as my de facto second home. The gym has offered me a place to reinvigorate my (long-lost) love of lifting weights and working out. In addition, the network of good friends that I’ve met through the Club has been both personally and professionally rewarding. I’m lucky enough to count fellow members amongst my closest friends and my clients. If I’ve learned anything from my nearly eight years of membership it is that the more you put into the Club, the more you get out of it. That has certainly been the case for me.
Q: What is your favorite feature or service at the Club?
A: I think there are a few drastically underutilized aspects of the Club that are big favorites of mine. So much so that I hesitate to talk about them here lest they become too popular.
The first is the Saturday morning breakfast in the Grill. Nearly every Saturday, I can be found in the Grill after working out. Sometimes I’m watching Paw Patrol with my little guy, and others I’m at the bar with four or five buddies having breakfast and a brunch cocktail before starting the weekend. Saturday mornings at the Club are an amazing mix of people and a great experience.
The second is the concierge service. I use it to get my car washed and filled with gas, to get dry cleaning done, shoes re-soled, and to secure hotel rooms when I’m traveling. The staff are amazing at working to ensure that whatever I need is taken care of, and it is a huge time saver for me.
Last, I think the Club bar is the best place to grab a drink in town. Nearly every time I go to the bar I run into a good friend or make a new one. It is a great place to get to know your fellow members.
Q: Describe an extraordinary experience you’ve had at the Club.
A: The best example happened a few weeks back. I arranged for childcare for my son so I could work out and we could grab breakfast afterwards. He loves running around the Club with his friends in the childcare group, so he was excited for it as well. Unfortunately, fifteen minutes before the childcare provider was scheduled to arrive, her company called the Club to tell us she had called in sick. Yvonne from the Fitness Desk went far beyond the call of duty and single-handedly entertained no less than six children of varying ages so that the parents could still get in their workouts. That is just one recent example of the extraordinary service that the Club staff provides on a daily basis.
Q: What are your hobbies and passions?
A: As a lawyer and solo parent, my hobbies have generally been subsumed by a combination of cartoons and lawsuits (but so far, no cartoon lawsuits). The best thing is spending time with my son. Beyond that, I love a good cocktail (or even a bad one frankly), good food, working out, travel, and talking politics or history. My career before law was in politics, so I can often be found in the bar going back and forth with my good friends about the issues of the day.
Q: If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would it be?
A: I cannot wait to take my son to Armenia, where our family is historically from. But if I had one trip I could do on my own, it would be to Jerusalem. I would love to explore the old city, see the Armenian Quarter, and generally take in the amazing history that have taken place within the city walls.