Beta Theta Pi - MIT

4 F our MIT Beta brothers enjoyed a week of cycling and fellowship in the Colorado Rockies this July. Mike Decavalcante '87, Ken Bryan '88, Mike McGovern '89, and Neil Harrigan '90 met up in Colorado to ride some of the iconic passes of the central Rocky Mountains. They rode around Golden and over Juniper Pass from Bergen to Idaho Springs. From the picturesque old mining town of Georgetown they rode up Loveland and Guanella Passes. Finally, they did some rides around Leadville (the highest elevation municipality in America at 10,152 feet) and finished the trip with a ride up Independence Pass. Not bad for four guys in their 50s! Other highlights of the trip included two Sasquatch sightings, a bar top cornhole game at Leadville Brewing Company, and a farewell dinner in Leadville on a rooftop while watching the sun set over the Rockies. They've already started talking about another Beta cycling trip for summer 2020, so please contact Ken at kenbryan05@gmail.com if you're interested in riding! F rom a very young age, Marty St. George '86 was fascinated by airplanes. Marty feels fortunate to have established a successful airline career that allows him to fulfill one of his greatest passions, but that might not have happened if it weren't for a layover in college. It didn't take Marty long to realize being an engineer wasn't a career path he was interested in, which put a damper on his decision to attend Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Despite the turbulence Marty encountered, he was thankful to make a safe landing at the Beta Upsilon Chapter. "It was a truly life-changing experience. We're all extremely lucky because MIT is a place where it's easy to get lost and it's easy to have not a great experience," Marty said. "Without my Beta experience, I never would have made it through. My brothers made a big difference." Marty remembers receiving a call from Andy Levy '84 during the summer before he arrived at MIT and then talking to him again during formal recruitment. Andy not only played a big role in recruiting Marty to Beta, but he also was studying to be a civil engineer. "I got to MIT and was like, 'Holy cow. These people are hardcore and I am not,'" Marty said. "Andy was taking some classes that I thought were interesting and that sort of set me on my path. I did get an engineering degree, but I did not spend one minute as an engineer." Marty's airline career has spanned more than three decades, including a 13-year stint with JetBlue. He was most recently their chief commercial officer before stepping down in June. "That's as long as I've worked anywhere in my career," Marty said. "I've still got a couple more jobs left in me, so it was a good time to leave and figure out what my next chapter is going to be." Much of Marty's success throughout his airline career has been in the field of marketing. He held various marketing positions with JetBlue, United Airlines, and US Airways. "Being able to put your biases out of your mind and use data to understand what customers really think is extremely valuable," Marty said. "It's one of the reasons why as much as MIT was the wrong place for me, it was also the right place for me. In the business world, you use math and the analytical skills you learn at MIT every single day." While some marketing strategies have been more difficult than others, coming up with reasons to brag about his Beta Brothers has never been a struggle for Marty. "I grew up an only child. Living in a community with 40-something guys and having to do things like cleaning the kitchen and helping each other with problem sets, it was a very different experience that I had never had before," Marty said. "Not to be cliché, but it really was a brotherhood." You can connect with Marty at martysg@gmail.com. A FIRST-CLASS EXPERIENCE Beta Prepared Marty St. George '86 for Successful Airline Career "I grew up an only child. Living in a community with 40-something guys and having to do things like cleaning the kitchen and helping each other with problem sets, it was a very different experience that I had never had before. Not to be cliché, but it really was a brotherhood."

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