In April of 2005, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, his longtime translator, Pavel Palazchenko, and his daughter Irina attended the Boston Software Council’s annual meeting at the Copley Marriot. I was involved with a firm that was associated with the BSC and was asked by them to serve as a “bodyguard” for Gorby while he was in the hotel. This consisted of an advance trip to the hotel, a tour of the facility with hotel security. On the day of the event, my job was to stick next to Gorbachev, make sure nobody bothered him or got too close. I was to guide him from meeting to meeting, to his suite for an afternoon break, and in and out of the ballroom and the press conference that followed. Software legend Dan Bricklin has a great post about the entire day.
It was certainly an experience to be in such close proximity to a world figure for the better part of a day. Our interaction was very minimal, its not like you’ll find Gorby on my LinkedIn page. Still, it was a memorable day and I was very pleased to be able to retire from my career as a bodyguard undefeated!