Met with Mike yesterday. Meeting went very well. He was tremendously upbeat about his business prospects. He is just a terrific guy, always thought so.

I was sorry when he left CIT because I felt he was someone that would have made a great future leader of the company.

His partner, Tom Chau, seems like a nice guy. Not sure what experience he has in audit, but he's probably smart enough to figure out what he needs.

He's looking to take over business from Citibank (so is Durkin) and is likely hiring, or contracting with, former auditors, which should help him do business there. The exams are basic bank deals, with one audit a year.

He does most of his audit work with Keltic and Rosenthal. He got the Keltic business because Durkin was running thin and wanted to increase rates. He shares an attorney with them (Mike Bonner of Stradley) who made the connection.

He found a fraud on his first Rosenthal audit and as a result they think highly of him. He's in tight with Tom Lauria and Ian Brown. I think one of the former auditors from Citibank may be the wife of the audit manager at Rosenthal, so that probably helps to the extent that he gives here work.

His Durkin story is - he was doing per diem work for Durkin and tried to build his own business at the same time. Durkin got pissed and he no longer works with him. Feels he grinds people down and burns them out.