TASC CEO Blog

Richard Rashke is a lecturer and author of non-fiction books including The Killing of Karen Silkwood, Escape from Sobibor, and Stormy Genius: The Life of Aviation’s Maverick Bill Lear. His works have been translated into eleven languages and have been the subject of movies for screen and television. He is also an alto sax player and composer. His latest composition, Crane Wife, a family musical based on a Japanese folktale, was performed at the Kennedy Center, and a new play, Dear Esther, based on a Sobibor prisoner opened this year.

Richard Rashke is also my uncle.

My uncle’s latest book, Useful Enemies: John Demjanjuk and America’s Open Door Policy for Nazi War Criminals, is an exposé of the American government’s campaign since 1940 to keep European Jews out of the U.S. and knowingly allow dozens of Nazi war criminals in.

Now, as the author’s nephew I think the book is great. But don’t take it from me; the book has received many good reviews. The Starred Kirkus Review calls the book “A richly researched, gripping narrative about war, suffering, survival, corruption, injustice and morality.”

Alan Dershowitz said “Useful Enemies is a remarkable and riveting account of how good people in a great nation can do very bad things and fail to do good things. This is a terrifying account of the triumph of injustice in the false name of pragmatism and in the immoral service of bigotry.”

Ambassador Stuart E. Eizenstat says Useful Enemies is “essential reading for anyone interested in understanding a difficult chapter in American history.”

And Selma Leydesdorff, Professor of Oral History and Culture at the University of Amsterdam says “Useful Enemies is amazing.”

My uncle will be in Madison, Wisconsin reading segments from his book and signing books on Thursday, May 23, 2013. The event starts at 7 pm at the west side Barnes and Noble bookstore and is open to the public. I encourage anyone interested in history or in just reading good books to attend.

For more information about Richard Rashke and this event visit http://www.richardrashke.com or http://store-locator.barnesandnoble.com/event/4380613. Copies of the book are available at Barnes and Noble or online at http://www.barnesandnoble.com.

Giving back to your community always feels good, but sometimes it feels downright amazing. Recently I experienced three amazing moments.

American Family Children’s Hospital

First, was the Topping Out Ceremony for the American Family Children’s Hospital expansion. My wife Patti and I attended this ceremony where a small balsam fir on a construction beam was attached to the crane and raised to American Family Children’s Hospital’s eighth floor, “topping out” the hospital’s two-floor expansion which will soon house 26 acute care beds, two new operating rooms, a state-of-the-art pediatric hybrid catheterization interventional radiology laboratory, and a pediatric imaging suite. From December 1, 2012 through February 28, 2013 the hospital raised $1.05 million for this project. Matching funds from hospital donors added up to a total impact of $2.09 million toward the children’s hospital expansion.

 Here is a picture of Patti and I taken at the event.

Meriter Hospital

The second amazing experience was the release of our Works of Wonder banner at Meriter Hospital. These banners recognize those who give of their time, talent, and resources to Meriter. In addition to our monetary support donated through TASC Cares, the charitable arm of our organization, TASC has gifted Meriter five years of free administrative services for flexible spending accounts in order to fund a substantial contribution to the Meriter Foundation. Our donation is designed to launch a new era in women’s health services for generations of women in south central Wisconsin. TASC also serves as a resource for human resources leadership regarding healthcare-related benefits design and service.

Click here to view our Works of Wonder banner.

Food for Kidz

As part of our annual company meeting, on Friday, March 22, about 370 TASC employees joined forces with Food for Kidz at the Monona Terrace in Madison to assemble meals for hungry children. In just over an hour, the group assembled 460 boxes of food, which adds up to nearly 100,000 meals. Thirty percent of the food packaged by TASC is distributed to food pantries in Dane County through Community Action Coalition (CAC) for South Central Wisconsin; 30 percent goes to food pantries across the United States; and the remaining 40 percent will be distributed overseas.

Check out this news clip about the event! NBC 15: Employees Volunteer to Pack 80,000 Meals for Hungry.

We are already planning more amazing moments like these in TASC’s future.

It is talked about constantly. Whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, or whatever the latest platform is, social media has taken on a life of its own and is something all businesses must come to terms with. TASC is rethinking our social media initiative and frankly, the options are mind boggling. There are just as many platforms as there are concerns when considering a Business-to-Business (B2B) social media strategy.

Common sense would dictate that you need a presence on Facebook, with its billions of users. But how many Facebookers are really interested in your services? And how do you get your message to rise above the mountain of animal pictures, self-portraits, and political rants?

Twitter allows you to build a following that is interested in your message, but experts say to be effective on Twitter you need to tweet at least two to three times a day. One report states that the shelf life of the average tweet is just three minutes. Wow! Keeping up with that pace could quickly overwhelm any marketing team.

LinkedIn shows some promise, particularly for B2B companies. You can connect with other professionals, join industry specific groups, and easily present your company attributes. Our Human Resources (HR) Department effectively uses its TASC Recruiter page to locate potential employees. I also maintain a LinkedIn page; if you like, send me a connection request. You should notice more activity on my page soon.

TASC has jumped into YouTube over the last few years. Our TASC Vision channel (www.youtube.com/tascvision) features 51 videos, has 40 subscribers, and has received more than 60,000 views. We will continue to post new videos regularly. I strongly urge you to subscribe to TASC Vision; you never know what you might see!