As I've said before, I'm a middle-grounder, but stuff like this gives me pause. It's a press release from the N.Y. Insurance Dept. (http://www.ins.state.ny.us/p9906141.htm#pagetop) Hope the cut & paste works:

Superintendent of Insurance Neil D. Levin today announced the resignation of Jennifer Cooperman, the Departments Deputy Superintendent and Director of Policy. Cooperman is relocating to Portland, Oregon with her husband and will be pursuing opportunities in the Portland area. Her resignation is effective July 9th....Cooperman has had principal responsibility for the Departments regulation of insurer Y2K readiness and disclosure to policyholders  an initiative that has been recognized by members of Congress for its aggressive requirements....Prior to her appointment to the Insurance Department, Cooperman served in a similar capacity at the New York State Banking Department from May 1996 to July 1997. An investment banker prior to joining the Banking Department, Cooperman spent seven years at Goldman, Sachs & Co., having been appointed a Vice President in 1992.

Not leaping to broad conclusions here, but it's interesting to connect these dots: senior financial regulator, heavily into Y2K, strong banking background (and contacts, no doubt), pulls up stakes and moves to that global financial mecca...Oregon. Apparently with no job waiting for her.

-- Thinman (thinman38@hotmail.com), June 15, 1999

Answers

Around the Portland area is potential for beacon Y2K community preparation efforts. Portland is gorgeous, especially the surrounding countryside. Special place. Interesting who all is relocating there. However, time is running out ...

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), June 15, 1999.

Some months ago, my wife, concerned about the safety of her mutual funds, called the MF company and was connected with a funds manager in New York City. He gave her the usual spiel about safety and y2k complience and then asked her where she was calling from. When she said Oregon, he then became very interested and started to ask her question after question about the weather, growing seasons,land prices, crime etc, etc. What should have been a ten minute call lasted 40 minutes with 90 percent of the conversation on Oregon.

-- Ralph kramden (OrBusman@webtv.net), June 15, 1999.

I think you have to be wary about reading significance into the situation mentioned at the top of the thread.

There is always going to be a certain turnover of people working in "insider" (for lack of a better term) jobs. Unless we know we know what the "usual" turnover is each year (i.e. what percentage of people quit each year) then we can't really impute too much global meaning into the actions of one (or several) people.

Y2K is a situation where macro analyses are needed. One can read stories about a COBOL programmer shortage in a particular locale, or of a company insider selling stock, but it is only by looking at the macro numbers that discerning a trend becomes possible.

-- Johnny Canuck (nospam@eh.com), June 15, 1999.

Point well taken, Johnny, which is why I was careful not to make wild extrapolations. But what struck me here was not just the position being left behind but the destination (see Ashton/Leska & Ralph above) and the employment angle ("pursuing other opportunities" is generally PR-speak for "doesn't have another job yet"). Maybe she's just tired of the rate race. But on the other hand...

-- Thinman (thinman38@hotmail.com), June 15, 1999.

I mean rat race.

-- Thinman (thinman38@hotmail.com), June 15, 1999.

Maybe she was tired of the rat race and y2k was what pushed her into a move! Wish she would get on here and answer...Maybe she will be looking for prep info and find this thread!:>

-- Moore Dinty moore (not@thistime.com), June 16, 1999.