A couple of (unrelated) Blackburns with ties to Dartmouth football are in the news today.
Jeff Blackburn '91, a three-year letterwinner at linebacker who was long thought to be in line to eventually replace Jeff Bezos at Amazon, is leaving the online marketplace/technology giant.
And Elizabeth Blackburn '15, is the subject of a lengthy profile for her role with the Cincinnati Bengals. She's the daughter of Katie (Brown) Blackburn '86 and granddaughter of onetime Dartmouth quarterback and Bengals owner Mike Brown '57.
•
Jeff Blackburn, the senior vice president who played a key behind-the-scenes role as one of Jeff Bezos’ top lieutenants for more than two decades, is leaving Amazon as of today, following a year-long sabbatical, he wrote in a message to Amazon’s senior leaders, posted to the company’s intranet and obtained by GeekWire.
Blackburn “has kept me in the loop on his next chapter, and I can assure you it’s a very exciting one!” (Amazon's Jeff)Bezos wrote in his response, also posted Tuesday to the Amazon intranet. “I predict that Jeff will be every bit as amazing in his new role as he’s been in all his roles at Amazon. Easy prediction. Big congrats to you, Jeff.”
A 6-foot-3, 225-pound product of Concord-Carlisle High School in Concord, Mass., Blackburn made 193 tackles in his Dartmouth career, starting all three varsity seasons after spending the required year with the freshman Pea Green.
•
From the story about Elizabeth Blackburn (LINK):
An Economics and Engineering double major, Blackburn first finished off her economics degree with a paper comparing NFL ticketing data to the economic tradeoffs between the 85 percent blackout rule and secondary pricing market. Then she capped her engineering degree inventing an app that offered a second screen during a live game to teach new NFL fans the rules and positions that her great grandfather all but invented.
The chance to work with her grandfather – the son of NFL legend Paul Brown – played a role in her decision to leave the consulting world and join the family business. From the story:
Like her grandfather, who has the corner office bookshelf ranging from Sparta to the Super Bowl, she's got a sense of history.
In fact, it was the prospect of working with the 85-year-old Brown that helped her make up her mind. After taking a couple of weeks to flesh out her role in talks with him, her parents and her uncle, club vice president Paul Brown, she made the call.
"The time was right," Blackburn says. "I wanted to be able to work with him with his rich history of growing up in the NFL the way he did. I feel like the Bengals are in a unique point in time where we're building something meaningful for the next chapter of the team and I wanted to be a part of that."
Find an older Dartmouth Alumni Magazine about her mom, Katie, HERE.
•
CNBC has a story about Jeff Immelt '78, headlined, Jeff Immelt takes most of the blame for his rocky time as CEO of GE, but does call out others, too. (LINK)
•
More and more college football players are entering the transfer portal. Some were Dartmouth recruiting targets like 6-foot-4, 252-pound defensive end Kevin Lemieux, who is leaving Syracuse and rethinking his options after a redshirt season with the Orange. From an SI story headlined, Kevin Lemieux Enters Transfer Portal; The Syracuse defensive lineman will seek a new collegiate home (LINK):
Lemieux was the first player to commit to Syracuse (in the 2020) cycle, and signed nine months later. He also held offers from Army, Dartmouth, UMass and Rutgers.
Green Alert Take: Prior to this year the opportunity to transfer "down" to an FCS school like Dartmouth was appealing for a player like Lemieux because he would be immediately eligible, whereas if he made a sideways move he would have to sit out a year. The NCAA's one-time exception this year allowing immediate eligibility removed that advantage for FCS schools and might result in fewer players transferring down.
•
Forbes has a story headlined, College Financial Grades 2021: Will Your Alma Mater Survive Covid. While Dartmouth succumbing to the pandemic isn't really a concern, what grade did Forbes award the school for its financial health? The same as all of the other Ivy League schools: A+. (LINK)
•
EXTRA POINT
For those of you are keeping score, make it five straight days without any mail in our PO box. But that's not the big news today. That came a few minutes ago in a message from Mrs. BGA that will have me been pulling on my hiking shoes with a smile as soon as I hit the publish button:
