From: Danielle Kinyon

Sent: Saturday, August 29, 2009 2:05 PM
To: amoore@bendbulletin.com

Subject: Summit 1031 Exchange coverage

I am a former employee who spent nearly 8 years working for Summit 1031 Exchange.  Working for Mark Neuman, Brian Stevens and later Tim Larkin and Lane Lyons was a very special experience indeed and I miss my job and my work family tremendously.  The partners of that business were very effective in creating an environment that reflected our mission statement “Work Hard, Have Fun, Make a Difference”.  They believed wholeheartedly in that mission and, contrary to what you and others in the media have reported, made it their business to do more than just line their own pockets. 

They made it their business to know their employees on a personal level and to treat everyone that walked through the doors of their business, whether an employee, a client or a friend, with respect.  Over the years they effectively guided hundreds of people in this community and all over the U.S. to build their own personal wealth.  They have all spent many hours and dollars, on a personal level and through the business bettering our community in many ways, from providing pro bono tax work to people in need to sponsoring Neighbor Impact’s Hungry All Year Long food drive and community events such as the Cascade Cycling Classic and Clear Summer Nights music.  They are all men of high intelligence, integrity and compassion.  They, like many people in our area and in the nation, put too much store in escalating real estate values and lost big.  Unfortunately, because of their actions others lost big, too (including me).  As terrible as it is, what they did was not illegal and certainly was not a Ponzi scheme.

As you do when you see people you care about being treated unfairly, I feel I need to speak up.   I implore you; report both sides of this story.  If the principals of this company are ready to talk about it, let them.  Print Mark Neuman’s letter to the editor. 

Danielle Kinyon