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Presently live on Lake Palo Pinto, 60 miles west of Fort Worth, Texas. We return to Iowa a couple of times a year. Des Moines is a great place to visit today and holds many fond memories for us.
In retirement I enjoy motorcycle travel with Susan and time spent with our five grandkids. We celebrated our 50th Anniversary in August 2013.
After graduating Drake in '63, I worked for Oscar Mayer in Davenport, IA as an industrial engineer.
My interest in computers then lead me to IBM, in Moline, IL working as a Systems Engineer covering insurance and local government accounts.
My management career started at the Auto Club of Michigan in Detroit, the largest auto insurer in the state. I ran the entire IT function. In the late 60s we installed one of the first statewide teleprocessing networks, joining our 57 branch offices together.
During my time with USAA in San Antonio, we set up the Customer Database and improved system performance in support of customer service reps supplying insurance and financial services to military members worldwide. Database technology was just making its way into businesses at that time.
After moving to Houston, I became involved in Systems and Management Consulting roles for several service companies in Michigan and Texas. I ran software development projects for Gulf Oil, Texaco, and Valero among others.
With my long time business partner Dan Ratcliff, I started a software company and developed a program generator that we marketed. In 1985 we developed a network system for Dow Chemical that monitored laboratory instrument readings to pass data to an automated chemical process control system.
We next formed a software company to build a commercial document imaging system running on a PC network. For one of our financial backers in this company, I took over management of the Engineering Division of an NCR corporation spin-off company. This entailed living in the San Francisco bay area and Silicon Valley for the year 1991. That was a fantastic opportunity to experience California, the Pacific, Yosemite, Napa valley and all the rest of the attractions. I loved it.
On my way to retirement, I spent six years at a seismic data acquisition equipment manufacturer as engineering change control manager. I was responsible for maintaining and controlling documents and drawings. Technical writing and editing were also my responsibility.
