I am Erik's father and full-time manager.  Following a 5-year stint as a Marine Corps attack pilot,  which included a tour in Vietnam,  I joined Pfizer in human resources.  Soon I was HR head in Latin America and then Asia,  living 5 years with my family in Hong Kong.  My next 15 years was spent on Wall Street,  a final post as Managing Director and worldwide head of HR for Salomon Brothers.  I left Salomon in 1995 to help Erik organize and fund his first big climb,  McKinley,  and have been working with him ever since.  I frequently join Erik on pieces of his expeditions,  biking with him from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City,  climbing up the backside and greeting him as he came up over the top of El Capitan,  joining him on Kilimanjaro where he married Ellie on the 13,000' Shira Plateau,  and trekking to Everest base camp so I could give Erik and his team a personal send-off to the higher camps.  Our promotional work together has produced a Time magazine cover story,  a congratulatory visit to the Oval Office,  and numerous TV specials and magazine features.