|  Michael 
              Messmer | The Islamic 
              Republic of Iran is a nation frequently in the news, most recently 
              with the UN imposing sanctions over its nuclear program. VBL member 
              Michael Messmer will be giving us an insider’s 
              look the nation once known as Persia at our October 14 meeting. 
              He was in Iran working for Bell Helicopter 1979 when the Shah was 
              overthrown in a revolution, and lived to tell the tale. Michael tells 
              us, “My talk is in part about how cultural differences can 
              make things very strange and complicated, in part about what it 
              was like to work in that environment and under a dictatorship, and 
              finally about how it is to live and try to get work done at the 
              outset of a revolution.” Michael’s 
              career highlights include attending a dinner with President Eisenhower 
              and VP Nixon, plus their children and grandchildren. A few decades 
              later he found himself late for a dinner with President Carter and 
              the Shah of Iran. In January 1969 he arrived at Haneda airport in 
              Japan to start work in psychological operations. A little over a 
              decade later he was being evacuated by military aircraft from Mehrabad 
              airport in Tehran, ending his work for Bell Helicopter. | 
         
          | Along 
              the way Michael did graduate work at the University of Minnesota 
              and produced an award winning educational radio series for the university 
              radio station (KUOM) that was distributed statewide, produced programs 
              to teach bankers how computers could work for them, worked in a 
              giant PR deptartment for SoCal Gas and a financial PR firm in Beverly 
              Hills. After tiring of the hassle and hustle of a revolution and 
              life in L.A., Michael landed in Sacramento, writing editorials for 
              KTXL while producing a talk show for KGNR. He was also given the 
              task for putting KDVR TV in Denver and KPDX TV in Portland on the 
              air. He also managed KTXL’s new tower project, bringing it 
              in on time and under budget. Later he built a new video production 
              studio and produced videos for EDD. As Michael puts 
              it, “To keep from getting bored I also served as president 
              of the Sacramento Public Relations Association, Vice President of 
              the State Information Officers Association, was a member of the 
              International TV Association, and National Broadcast Editorial Association, 
              acted in many community theater shows, helped start the Fair Oaks 
              Theater Festival, bought a live theater (Stage Door Comedy Playhouse) 
              then later built a new theater (Arden Playhouse)where I was producer, 
              writer and director of many comedies.” |