Dominick and Judy Archer…Judy and I are enjoying our life out of Darien, Illinois.
I basically retired in 2016 after spending 19 wonderful years with Ulta Beauty after leaving Osco in 1997. Being part of a company that grew from a 68 store, privately held company to almost a thousand store, extremely profitable, publicly held company when I left was extremely satisfying and rewarding. I would not have had the chance to work as their Director of Loss Prevention if it were not for some familiar names like Rick Weber, Terry Hanson, John Kromer, and the late Ron Green. I also had a chance to bring on other Osco Drug alumni to work as part of my wonderful staff like John Oliveri, Jeff Foster, Carlos Sainz, Joe Egan, Perry Smolinski, John Leslie, and Ken Velasquez. I also worked along side in other departments additional alumni like Pete LaPrarie, Mike Goldman who continues to work at Ulta, Rich Bos, Bob Vonderhaar, Bev Vonderhaar, Dean Kelsey, and Greg Smolarek. I am sure I have left out other Osco Alumni that I worked with at Ulta. After leaving Ulta I have had several opportunities working interim, temporary, or consulting roles. The most interesting was working as the Interim Director of Fraud for a major international on-line company, joining them as preparation for the crucial holiday season was beginning while attempting to learn the technology and become familiar with a 60 person staff based in three counties was to say the least challenging. Learning to use Zoom, Slack, and other communication technologies before they became popular because of the pandemic was a great experience. I continue to volunteer at my Alma Mater, Northern Illinois University, serving on the Athletics Strategic Planning Committee, the Huskie Fan Advisory Board, the Management Department Advisory Board, as a NIU Advocate with the Springfield Legislator while mentoring students every semester through the Alumni Association and the Management Department. After Judy left her second tour of duty with Osco (she left the first time to join the original Dick George staff at Ulta) she returned to school and completed her bachelor’s degree at Northern Illinois University in 2015. We are now both Huskies. She immediately started substitute teaching and then when offered, accepted an opportunity to join the Westmont school district as a full-time Teachers Assistant mainly working with kids who have special needs. While she enjoys working with these young children, she plans on retiring after this challenging year of on-line, hybrid, and in the classroom teaching. We have been lucky enough to do a great deal of traveling within the US, Canada and Europe with family and friends. The best trip had to be the two weeks we spent in Italy not only because of the sites and food we enjoyed but because of the two couples we met from New York state that have become lasting friends who we have gone on to travel with and visit with again and again. Finally, what completes our lives is our son Ryan, our wonderful daughter-in-law Alex, and the three grandchildren, Lucas 12, Logan 5, and Natalina 2.
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