Lee Geiger

Just when I thought I was out…they pull me back in!

Michael Corleone (Al Pacino), “The Godfather: Part III”

Just when I thought it was safe to retire, to savor my days slumped across my leather sofa like an overstuffed Orson Wells lookalike munching away on buttery popcorn and crunchy tortilla chips while binge-watching episodes of “The Wire” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” Penserra Founder and CEO George Madrigal invited me to his Orinda office and made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. He followed that meeting by dispatching me to have dinner with Jason Valdez, a henchman he had flown in from Chicago, who put me into a wine-induced verbal headlock and ordained that he wouldn’t let me touch my food until I accepted Penserra’s generous offer. It was blackmail, pure and simple. But I was powerless, weakened by Jason’s inarguable science of reasoning, and he eventually compelled me to surrender to Penserra’s demands. Not only that, but no one, and I mean no one, can resist a mouthwatering Wood Tavern pork chop.

However, my trading spurs, three-decades old and rusting faster than the underside of Donald Trump’s hair implants, thankfully remain on the shelf.

At preciously 6:41am on January 8, 2018, a coffee and bagel run after the customary stock market open, I strolled through the doors of Penserra as the firm’s newly-minted Director of Marketing, a role to which I bring no discernable experience or skill set. My qualifications, or lack thereof, consist of A) being Penserra Employee #5 (circa 2009…there are now 80+ who work at the firm) and thereby possessing some idea of the firm’s history and culture, and B) having the highly questionable capacity to creatively craft a sentence, and C) possess a personality that prefers to color outside the lines. My job, in essence, is to turn up the volume at Penserra, and if you’ve ever had to endure an evening of dining and wining with me, you know I excel at volume.

So, how’s it going, you ask? Here’s the long answer; imaging being tasked to construct a thousand-foot skyscraper, a Herculean task given the fact that the IKEA build-it-yourself bookcase I bought in 2007 still resides in a box. And I have to pull this off while simultaneously earning graduate degrees in both architecture and engineering.

Now here’s the short answer; I’m having a blast.

There’s nothing better than jumping out of bed every morning chomping at the bit to get busy. My brain, as well as my spirit, has been taken off life support thanks to the transformation of my professional learning curve from a leaky faucet to a didactic hockey stick. Every day is filled with fun and exciting new opportunities to fail. For example, prior to January 8 I had never heard of Microsoft Publisher. Now I live and breathe it, thanks to the charitable aid and thoughtful assistance of Anand Desai, a prodigiously creative Hall of Fame millennial who has bailed me out more often than Charlie Sheen. I also have to acquaint myself with a blizzard of social media marketing tactics and industry regulations, which is pretty challenging when you consider I can never remember my LinkedIn password and don’t even have a personal Instagram account.

Yet the singular, most fabulously logical reason for returning to work was this; the people of Penserra. (A special shout out goes to Ashley Handel, Penserra’s Head of Human Resources, who for six months made it her mission to insure that I return to Penserra). Team Penserra is special breed, wired to play as hard as they work, where respect equals trust, appreciation rewards effort, and no idea is ever not listened to. I missed their spirited energy, the infectious enthusiasm, and the we’re-lucky-to-work-here vibe. And it certainly helps the cause that as I arrive to work every morning they make me feel as welcomed as Norm ascending his bar stool in “Cheers.” Many of my Penserra brethren refer to me as the Director of Mac and Cheese, which I don’t mind because coming to work every day surrounded by their love is comfort food for my soul. It’s no wonder I love them back.

George Madrigal had the vision to see past my past and suggest I repot myself as a Penserra marketing maven. Time will tell if his bet pays off, but until that judgement day arrives I plan on having a good time turning up the volume.

WE ARE PENSERRA!