Dollar/Thrifty/EDS One More Time

Just some thoughts on the new job for Don Himmelfarb as Tulsa's Economic Development director. No one with a position like his, with as many years under his belt, retires willing at age 61. Also, I doubt that, with a resume like his, you aspire to a civil servant position. The fact is that he is likely a victim of the outsourcing efforts at DTAG. Mayor Taylor used to be a attorney with Dollar/Thrifty years ago, and likely is helping an old friend land as softly as possible. (I'll try to get the specifics dates if I can, but Kathy Taylor was an attorney for Dollar/Thrifty many years ago when those were separate brands. At the time they were owned by Pentastar, I believe.)

Mr. Himmelfarb has not been the only casualty either. Lloyd St.Clair, Executive VP of Information Technology, another long time employee has already left the company. These two guys who were major players in leading the meeting at the AMC theater when the announcement was made to IT that the outsourcing was under consideration. Mr. St. Clair's abrupt exit may have been due to the nature of the options available to IT employees. The short story is that any IT person that chose not to interview with EDS would receive a 13 week severance pay if they stayed until the outsourcing was complete. With the uptick in IT demand, many of the IT folks who are left are going to take this severance option and then go into the market place to look for new work. Factor this in with the fact that many IT employees have already left, and the brain power needed to successfully transition to EDS is thin at best. This can't be being received well at the very top. I am just speculating, there certainly may be other behind the scenes reasons that these gentlemen are no longer at DTAG.