(1977-1984) SOFTWARE DESIGNER, FINANCIAL TECHNOLOGY, CHICAGO

“When I graduated, there was not much demand for people in energy engineering. But I had a math background, so I went to a software house to do banking software.”

(1984-1985) INVESTMENT ANALYST, SEI, CHICAGO

“I was arbiter of performance investment portfolios, giving an independent analysis of how they compared to other funds of the same size and makeup.”

(1985-2000) MANAGEMENT CONSULTANT, COMPUTER SCIENCES CORPORATION, CHICAGO

“I was doing process redesign. The guys who get $10,000 a day call it ‘re-engineering.’ I looked at the processes companies had in place and tried to make them more efficient. I did that in a lot of different places—banks, insurance companies. I worked with State Farm for three years.”

(2000-2002) INDEPENDENT CONSULTANT; STUDENT, LE CORDON BLEU, CHICAGO

“When the technology market crashed, I retired. I went to cooking school to learn how to make things better. I just did it for fun, with no intention of doing anything with it.”

(2003) COOK, MONSOON, CHICAGO

“In one sense, working in a restaurant is easier than catering. You have a fixed menu, so you’re doing the same thing all the time. But restaurants have a high turnover, and they have a tough time making it. [Monsoon] doesn’t exist anymore.”

(2005-present) OWNER, EXECUTIVE CHEF, SARASOTA CATERING COMPANY

“My wife retired in 2004 and we ended up buying a house at The Oaks, but I didn’t like golf enough to play it all the time. I was looking for something to do. I wanted the creativity that goes with making food, and the catering business gave that to me.”