Vasant,

We can move the trip by one week.

Vince

 -----Original Message-----
From: 	Shanbhogue, Vasant  
Sent:	Friday, May 25, 2001 4:27 PM
To:	Kaminski, Vince J; Neale, Nelson
Subject:	RE: Sparks Consulting

Vince,

my concerns exactly about revealing pricing approaches.  Sparks is primarily a fundamentals/data shop.  They do not do any statistical modeling at all, as far as I can tell from discussions until this point.  We have already used a lot of information from USDA, which seem to be more statistically sophisticated, at least in the research they sponsor.  The worry would be that Sparks would get more info out of us to use in their consulting activities than we would from them.  I would like to keep the discussions at an exploratory level, where we do not say exactly what we do, and we have them propose alternatives.

Also, I am taking the CFA Level 3 exam on Saturday, so travelling on Friday would be inconvenient for me.  Any later date is better for me, if possible.

Vasant

 -----Original Message-----
From: 	Kaminski, Vince J  
Sent:	Friday, May 25, 2001 4:13 PM
To:	Neale, Nelson
Cc:	Shanbhogue, Vasant; Kaminski, Vince J
Subject:	RE: Sparks Consulting

Nelson,

We can go to Memphis on Friday. I would discuss first with Gary and Elsa
the scope of what we shall reveal.

We can shoot ourselves in the foot if we reveal our pricing technology to
consultants.

Vince


 -----Original Message-----
From: 	Neale, Nelson  
Sent:	Friday, May 25, 2001 1:40 PM
To:	Shanbhogue, Vasant; Kaminski, Vince J
Subject:	Sparks Consulting

Elsa called me late this morning with regard to extending the scope of our agreement with Sparks.  As we discussed, they have offered to help us with our forward curve development and would like to meet with us next Friday in Memphis.  The key point of contact there is Dr. Rob Murphy.  Let me know your thoughts and availability for that date.

Nelson