Chris Newman

Chris Newman is the founding treasurer of KGB.

A Story

At some point during his presidency, Abe, intent on finding a job in the game industry, had an on-campus interview with Microsoft. The interview went on in a small room in the dungeons of the University Center. There was your usual technical question and then the topic shifted towards general matters, and it went something like this:

"I notice you've written on your résumé that you're the president of the Carnegie Mellon KGB," said the interviewer, a guy in his late 30s or early 40s who had worked on various Windows platform bits.

"Oh, yes," said Abe, who was accustomed to this coming up, "KGB is a social organization on campus..." and on. "It's a good time. We have weekly meetings and abide by Robert's Rules of Order, so--"

The interviewer butted in, somewhat surprised, "Still! Huh."

Still.

"Oh." This was unexpected. "Yeah..."

"I was the founding treasurer of the KGB."

"Oh."

Abe apparently passed the on-campus interview in spite of completely bombing the aforementioned technical question, and proceeded to the phone screen stage.

Is the story true?

While many former KGB folks have worked at Microsoft, including the founding corresponding secretary Dan Lovinger, Chris Newman only worked for Microsoft as a summer intern once in 1988 so he wasn't part of this particular story.

How the Penny Throwing Started

Since I was the founding treasurer and the organization had no money, it seemed appropriate to ask for money during the Treasurer's report. So I started doing that, and resourceful KGB members decided to take the request literally in the form of one cent coins flying in the general direction of the treasurer. I found it entertaining so it became a tradition (cue fiddler on the roof music).