“My feelings are mixed,” says Moossazadeh, a senior vice president. “I am American, but I still have feelings for the home country. I haven't been back since 1975.”
He says he has good memories and wants to keep them that way.
Hadipour, Kleinfelder's aviation chief, says he went back in 1992 to work as an aviation consultant. But the new regime, he says with a sad smile, had created a culture to which he could not adapt.
Bokaie does go back to visit his parents. At one point during this interview, his colleagues, hinting at how his remarks might be received in Iran, teased him. “Nick, is it too late to cancel your flight?” asked Moossazadeh.
The humor is bittersweet. The group, staunchly American, still takes pride in Iran, noting that Sharif University was lauded by a Stanford electrical engineering dean as among the best in the world.
The post-revolution generation, including Parham Khoshkbari, a Kleinfelder vice president in his 30s, have less mixed feelings.
Of Iranians in his age group who are still in Iran, he says, “You just want to get out.”
COVER STORY / WORKFORCE
