By Lauren Henry '99 - The Taft School

ALUMNI IN THE NEWSAlumniIN THE NEWSBacking the Balkans“The job in Bosnia was particularly challenging,” Bob Weeks ’51 said. “Sarajevois an interesting, culturally diverse city, but devastation from the 1992-95 war isstill evident. The Balkan disease of ethnic conflict is pervasive. NATO’s recentbombing campaign closed Sarajevo’s airport for 22 days and caused many of mycustomers to lose their markets in neighboring Serbia. We escaped claustrophobicSarajevo with occasional short breaks in Dubrovnik and Makarska (both onthe Dalmatian coast of Croatia) and in Zagreb, Croatia’s capital.”A commercial banker for 30 years (23 at Chase Manhattan), Bob hasworked full time as an independentfinancial consultant since1988 for such groups as the WorldBank, European Bank for Reconstructionand Development,International Finance Corporation,the Agricultural Bank, andthe Foreign Trade Bank of Romania,in addition to the US AIDBusiness Finance Unit in Sarajevo,Bosnia-Herzegovina.He sees his decision to becomea consultant as a logical extensionof his business career. His workhas involved rebuilding and developingthe “trashed” formerCommunist economies in Romania,Bosnia, Ukraine, Poland,Bulgaria, Moldova, and Slovakia.He and his wife, Sarabeth, livedin Bucharest, Romania, from1992 to 1995 and in SarajevoBob Weeks ’51 in Zagreb, Croatia, last March.from 1998 to this spring.Go to theHead ofthe SchoolChip Bristol ’78 is thenew head of the k-8Canterbury School inGreensboro, NorthCarolina. A formerChip Bristol ’78chaplain and fundraiser, he told the CanterburySchool magazine that he “decided toexplore leading a school when I was in tenthgrade. I remember the night I sat in Vesperslistening to Lance Odden and marveling atwhat a wonderful way to spend one’s life.”Only the school’s second head, one ofhis goals is to create a diverse community.“We are created to walk in this world withour own individual character,” he said. “Nomatter the color of our skin, the size of ourwallets, or the way we worship God, we arecalled to walk in the various courtyards ofthis world. When diversity is embraced thewalk becomes a dance. When it is not, thewalk becomes a uniform, military march.”Chip sees “providing a dynamic, challenging,and loving educational experience”as his most important job. Chip grew upin Princeton, New Jersey, and received hishigher education at Hamilton College andVirginia Theological Seminary.20Fall 1999