Dear Vince:
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I am in a somewhat delicate position. One of the  people in the group here 
has asked me to introduce him to you.? As an El  Paso vice president, I 
should not have agreed to do this, and frankly, the guy  should not have 
asked.? But he is clearly very unhappy at El Paso, so, as a  human being, I 
felt it was appropriate. Also, because this guy would have  contacted you 
anyway, with or without my introduction, as a professional  courtesy, I would 
like you to benefit from my experience with this  fellow.
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The guy's name is Joao Neves (Portugese).? I  think he is reasonably bright 
and seems to have a quite deep understanding of  general finance and 
financial mathematics. He is a manager and feels very  frustrated because he 
had hoped to be promoted to a position of authority.  Instead the group's 
M.D. brought in two Price-Waterhouse-Coopers consultants as  V.P's to run the 
structuring and quant sides of the group. In this respect, I  can understand 
his unhappiness. Unfortunately for him, however, I also think it  is in his 
nature to whine.? I have observed him to bad mouth lots of people  starting 
with the IT guys (ok, that's perhaps not much an indictment!) all the  way to 
dismissing Broadie & Glasserman's or Eduardo Schwartz' works as  shoddy or 
shallow.? He does not seem to suffer well people he considers  fools.? Caveat 
Emptor, therefore! Having said all this, I do want to  emphasize that he is a 
bright guy, is very pleasant with me, and, perhaps given  the appropriate 
environment and supervision, might be quite productive.?  But don't take my 
word for it. Talk to him, and see what you think.?  Obviously, I would ask 
that you keep these comments in confidence. I have given  you an honest 
assessment -- brutally so.
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'Nuff said! I have fulfilled my moral obligations  both to Joao and to you.
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Best Regards,
Grant.