Committing Ones Self to the Community

By way of introduction my name is Steve P. AND I am Executive Vice President of Sherwood Information Partners in Colorado, successful businessman, contributor to multiple charities and a modest philanthropist. I am writing you in support of Greg Reyes. Please let me give you some background on me and explain why I believe it is in the best interest of our community and Greg's family to avoid excessive sentencing particularly incarceration.

Did you know Greg Reyes has had a big impact on dozens of kids with cancer and sent an underprivileged inner city youth to California State University, but I will bet he did not know it? In order to understand this statement and why I feel so strongly about Greg Reyes' important role in our community allow me to tell you more about me.

My wife and I have two children of which we are very proud. The eldest, Matt is currently in New Zealand working on a professional accreditation and my daughter, Alexandra attends our local catholic high school with a special interest in international studies, Spanish language, and dreams of collegiate volleyball. As I mentioned in my introduction I continue to have a very successful life and career. My success is quite remarkable given a background of a broken home, I lost my mother at age 5, was sexually molested and raised on public financial assistance "welfare" growing up in San Gabriel Valley / East LA. At that time many would have said "least likely to succeed". As a teen I made a commitment to learn from adversity and focus on the positive influencers in order to shape my life. As I matured and became successful, I aspired to give back to the community in various ways. My life purpose developed into doing what I can to positively impact the community and be a catalyst for others to succeed through role modeling, philanthropy, and promoting good will. I came to this purpose as a direct result of a few individuals who made a profound positive influence on my life. Greg is one of those people.

Greg Reyes and I met in 1988. He was vice president of sales for a technology company when he gave me the opportunity as a salesman at a "start-up" technology company, Banyan Systems. Banyan went on to become a successful public company. Frankly it was the beginning of what turned out to be a great career for me. Greg took a chance and invested in me personally. I studied him in order to create success tor me personally and professionally. Again in 1998 Greg was instrumental in assisting me secure my first executive sales position as vice president of sales at a Nuera Communications. Greg has been a tremendous role model and leader to me. I learned a great deal from him about leadership, compassion, trust, loyalty, and friendship.

The success I achieved due largely by leadership from Greg Reyes has provided me the opportunity to assists others. My wife and I donate countless hours and money over the years to charities such as Camp Okizu in Marin County which offers children with cancer and their families an opportunity to learn independence, nourish positive self esteem and gain skills they thought were not possible through week long camp programs. The inner city youth mentioned above is named Jordanna Perez1. Jordanna had a similar childhood background as me along with the familiar desire to break out of the negative environment to pursue her goal of pre-law at Chico State. She now works in San Francisco at the law firm of Collette Erickson Farmer and O'Neil. Greg Reyes was the catalyst for my success, which in turn created opportunities for my children, hundreds of other children and enabled Jordanna Perez to attend college. Greg Reyes is directly and indirectly responsible for every person I help, whether it is mentoring, financial assistance, or charitable work. In turn many of these people will go on assist others.

The Jury rendered their decision, but they could not know the profound positive impact Greg Reyes has had on my life and the continuum set in motion for many others as a result of his leadership, commitment, friendship, and trust.

Your Honor please consider my plea to you to allow Greg Reyes to raise his children without interruption, they need him. Allow Greg to continue his important role in our community. Greg has and will continue to create positive personal and business influences, which we need. This is not an emotional or sentimental plea to you but a continuum of hope for many people in which Greg Reyes touches directly and indirectly. It is my belief he will continue to have a profound positive impact on our communities.

Greg Reyes