Introducing Sean Harper-Master Fund Raiser

I was born in Cape Town where I spent many an afternoon on my bike growing up. In the mid 80's I made my way to the U.S.A. to take advantage of an opportunity to study Accountancy at BYU. The friends I made quickly introduced me to Skiing at Alta, and shortly thereafter, biking in Moab. Of the offers I received from the Big 8, I proudly accepted the offer from Peat Marwick Mitchell, and started in Audit in the Salt Lake City Office, Fall '88. Milt Thackeray (Partner) and Brent Halladay (Senior Manager) first got me into road riding. We did many a Century together before I took a 2 year rotation in Audit Technology to Montvale, NJ, Spring '92. I immediately took to the New York Metro area, but quickly realized how spoiled I had been in Utah. The congestion caused me to hang up my road bike, and I took to mountain biking locally (Ringwood and Ramapo State Parks).

I chose not to return to Salt Lake and settled in Ramsey, NJ, with my wife Joanne. We have 4 children - Jonathan (14), Christofer (11), Courtney (9), and Matthew (4) – all who love biking. Gratefully, they have all discovered one of the truly great life-sports.

In 1994, I had the privilege of meeting and personally giving Gene O'Kelly (the then Financial Services, West leader) an introduction to KMan and a one-on-one tutorial. I got a first-hand appreciation for his passion and ideals. About the same time, I developed an infatuation with a young American rider who was turning heads at the Tour DuPont – Lance Armstrong. At work, I became friends with Bill Orton, an avid biker, who shared my interest and passion for biking. He got me to dig my road-bike (an old Cannondale R600) out of the garage, and showed me the roads of NY/CT (Harriman, Katona, Cortlandt, Newburgh, Cold Spring, Saratoga, Bedford, Greenwhich…). We've been riding together since.

Bill is in recovery from Colon Cancer surgery this past January. While Lance is one of my heroes, and I'm grateful to Gene for the perspective and lessons shared and documented in 'Chasing Daylight,' Bill remains a steady and constant source of daily inspiration. Know that Bill will be saturating my thoughts as we ride this year's Chasing Daylight Tour.