December 17, 2010
Reporter: Rich Shearer          Editor: Ron Brown         Photographer: Tom Black 

President: Thomas Peeks, 2010 - 2011          

 

The official record of our last meeting of 2010.  Treat it with the reverence it deserves.

 

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

 

Pound away Ernie!

Ernie Furtado noted that all problems start to look like nails when the only available tool is a hammer.  Apparently, Ernie is familiar with the HOME Team approach to home repairs.

 

VISITING ROTARIANS

 

Gary Irwin - Moraga

 

GUESTS OF OTHER PERSUASIONS

 

Nancy Baglietto - officially introduced "for the last time as a guest."

Jack Peers - he looked vaguely like a well-liked and valuable Past President of our Merrie Band

Yolanda Peeks - the ever-gracious First Lady

Walt Nelson - he looked vaguely like a valuable and well-liked member we had not so long ago

Mike Speicher - third time visitor

Rich Cunningham - first time visitor

Glenda Fillinger - The Queen

Sara Brown - the reason we let Ron keep coming back

 

BIRTHDAYS, ANNIVERSARIES, AND OTHER MISCELLANEOUS GOODIES

 

Dave Isenberg's lovely bride, Evie, had a birthday.  Paul Fillinger and Chuck Bove both had birthdays.  Buddy Burke and Tom Black joined the Club five years ago.  What did these events have

Where's you Christmas spirit Thomas?

in common (besides being reported here)?  They served as a more-than-adequate excuse for President Peeks to relieve all of said Members of some of their cash.  Some were relieved of more than others, which means that Thomas the Just is using exactly the same kind of logic in assessing fines/acknowledgments/your-euphemism-goes-here that all Club Presidents use - whim & caprice.  It shall ever be thus.

 

MOTORAMA UPDATE

 

Krysten Laine told us that Ernie Furtado is in charge of the Finance & Admin wing of Motorama.  Ernie then outlined some of the areas where he will need help, such as Parking (which Don Reichert volunteered to head up - thanks, Don), City Event Coordinator, and dealing with the ABC folks (for the liquor license, of course).  June may seem like a long way off, but it is nowhere near too early to get rolling on this, boys and girls.


ARIANNE IN ACTION

 

After telling us about the Christmas party with her fellow Youth Exchange students, Arianne told us how the holidays are celebrated at home in Bolivia.  First, they have no Christmas trees.  Why?  Because "we don't kill trees."  But they do have elaborate scenes of the birth of Jesus, more or less what we would call a creche scene.  Church, a big family dinner and

Wow! How lucky can a girl be?

presents feature prominently.  New Year's is primarily a family event, although parties celebrating the coming of another year often take place after the family celebration. 

 

Gillett Johnson then came up to present a, well, a present to Arianne from the Club - her very own iPhone.  She seemed truly surprised and grateful.  It was great fun to see the smile on her face. 

 

STUFF THAT WILL ALREADY HAVE HAPPENED BY THE TIME YOU READ THIS

 

Hanukkah.  Christmas.  Kwanza.  The Winter Solstice.  New Year's Eve.  New Year's Day. 

 

ANOTHER GOOD DEED DONE WELL

 

Wonderful job Mike. Thank you!Mike Edwards rose to thank everyone who participated in the Adopt-a-Family holiday project, whereby we procured and delivered holiday gifts for a family that needed a little help.  Many thanks to you, Mike, for putting this together.  And many thanks to the one and only Blair Howard, the Acalanes High student who has been leading the charge on this since she was a Stanley Middle School student.   

 

PROGRAM

 

Before he found his true calling as the Guru of Constant Contact and the Lamorindan, Ron Brown had quite a life.  Today, we heard about some of it.

 

Ron grew up in wintry snow and summery heat and humidity, as

Those were the good, old days!

he was born in Indiana and grew up in Minnesota and Chicago.  He met Sara, the love of his life, on the eve of her 17th birthday, but did not marry her until he was in the Army, training in counter-intelligence and learning to become an officer, but still working on the gentleman bit.  (Hint: That does not mean learning how to do a good job of taking orders at McDonald's.)  By this time, she held the rank of Colonel in the University of Illinois Air Force ROTC program.  Fortunately, this was an honorary position, or there would have some sort of hell to pay for Ron for fraternizing with a vastly superior officer. 

 

Ron went on to have a lively military career that, by his telling, seemed to amount to investigating pretty much everyone in the Army except for people who should have been investigated.  He was a liaison officer with the FBI in efforts to root out commies back in the day when such things were Very Serious Matters of National Security.  For some reason or other, Ron was assigned to investigate every Major and Colonel in the Army.  It went unreported what deep, dark secrets Ron uncovered, although it appears from what he did tell us that pretty much every Major and Colonel he investigated thought this was about the stupidest waste of time and effort they had ever heard of.  Considering how good peacetime military organizations are in coming up with stupid wastes of time and effort, that's saying something.  But he persisted in doing his duty, so we have Ron to thank for preventing our fair nation from being turned to godless communism by a cabal of underground commie Majors and Colonels.  Lord only knows what would have happened without Ron's tireless efforts.

 

On a different note, he was also involved in doing advance scouting work on what the Army might expect if it had to be called in to help integrate Louisville High School (the one in Kentucky), this being in the aftermath of President Eisenhower sending in the Army to integrate Central High in Little Rock, Arkansas.  Fortunately, the leaders of Louisville were not at all interested in having their fair city become the setting for another Little Rock-esque opera bouffe, and the integration of Louisville High was uneventful. 

 

Eventually, Ron was released from the Army, and he applied for jobs with two of the shining beacons of American business - Proctor & Gamble and IBM.  P&G interviewed both Ron & Sara, and they offered him a sales position.  But he accepted the offer from IBM.  He got lots of training, spent lots of time on the road and came to be incredibly unpopular.  Not because he had halitosis or anything like that, but because he was in charge of pushing sales of a product that nobody, but nobody, in the regional offices wanted to have anything to do with.  Ron ultimately became a Branch Marketing Manager in Hammond, Indiana. (It was unreported whether this was a reward or a punishment.)

 

But Ron was restless, so he quit IBM to take a job doing computer leasing in California.  His father took this in stride - he assumed Ron had been fired because "I never thought I would raise a son so stupid as to resign from the best corporation in the world." 

 

Oh, that computer leasing company?  It was Transamerica.  Yes, the folks who gave us the Pyramid in San Francisco.  Ron came on board in time to see the company bloom in the 1960s and 1970s under CEO Jack Beckett.  Ron was involved in all manner of business dealings, but according to him, his most memorable achievement involved a member of the Transamerica board of directors, a crusty captain of industry named Bradley Bogue, who (1) was from Ernst & Young and (2) always fell asleep at board meetings.  Ron came to a board meeting to make a presentation seeking more funding for his project.  He aimed his presentation at Mr. Bogue.  Well, more to the point, Ron conducted the presentation so as to make Mr. Bogue an active participant. Not only did said Mr. Bogue stay awake, but he enthusiastically led the charge for getting the needed funds.  Ron believes that he prevailed due to equal measures of Mr. Bogue's support and the other board members being so entertained watching their normally curmudgeonly cohort become so animated. 

 

Ron also passed up an opportunity to become a CIA operative behind the Iron Curtain.  He was, by this time, part of a joint venture with Metronix, a Polish enterprise that procured computer equipment.  Ron cultivated contacts and business in Poland.  He had several encounters with guards at border crossings, including being told that he looked better without the mustache he had grown since his passport photo had been taken.  Because of his multiple trips to Poland, Ron was approached by the CIA to see if he would be willing to, shall we say, be of assistance.  Ron, being a fairly bright fellow, could understand that the Polish authorities would likely not have much of a sense of humor on the subject if he was found out, and politely declined.  He did, however, allow himself to be debriefed by the FBI from time to time, and he gave quarterly talks to the Department of Commerce.  These talks led to Ron receiving a very prestigious award from the DOC, and it also led to the FBI understanding that the Poles were willing to buy our obsolete equipment rather than brand-new German or Japanese equipment because they liked Americans but did not like Germans (something to do with some unpleasantness between 1939 and 1945, I expect) and did not want the Japanese coming in.

 

In order to market used computer hardware peripherals in "like new" condition,to Poland, Transamerica Computer decided to form a small technology center in Pleasant Hill to perform the refurbishment. They staffed it mostly with ex-NCR employees who had good product refurbishment experience. Since they had the center, and point of sale service experience, Ron recruited some ex-NCR sales types and went into business designing and importing electronic cash registers and scales from Japan. Ron found himself now ping-ponging back and forth between Europe and Japan on a regular basis. Sara was able to accompany him on a few of these jaunts, which led to one memorable experience. While seated on tatami mats, on the floor, in a crowded Japanese restaurant, with the president of Ishida Scale Company and his staff, Sara got a piece of shabu-shabu meat lodged in her throat. Her wind pipe was completely blocked. So they popped up, Ron got behind her, put his arms around her with clenched fists, and gave her a couple of good whacks just under the breastbone. The meat popped out. Picture this. They were the only two foreigners in the room, standing up, performing some unbelievable ritual in front of all of the horrified diners seated on the floor. The Southwest Airline commercial "want to get away?" is mindful of this experience. It turns out they repeated the performance a second time. This at a Lamorinda AAUW annual banquet at Saint Mary's College where Sara had just completed the year as President. It was a celebration dinner with 300 guests in attendance. Fortunately this time Sara got to explain what just happened to everyone in English.

 

 All good things must come to an end, and so the reign of Jack Beckett  at Transamerica closed.  Where there had been growth and diversification, now there was retrenchment and shedding of non-core businesses.  As a result, Ron found himself out of a job.  He did, however, manage to score some Aeroflot tickets by way of partial compensation.  Knowing the propensity for Aeroflot planes to land, er, prematurely, he managed to exchange them for two first-class tickets on Pan Am, which had a far better record for its planes touching down where intended.  That became a wonderful around-the-world excursion for Ron and Sara.

 

Next on the horizon was Osborne Computer, the first-ever portable computer.  Ron responded to an ad in the Wall Street Journal, interviewed with Adam Osborne and got the job.  The Osborne was a fine product.  One problem, though - Adam Osborne announced the coming of a more advance product that wasn't ready.  Instantly, sales for existing product dried up as the market eagerly awaited the newer and better offerings that, unfortunately, did not exist.  The company declared bankruptcy and Ron, with his merry international band, won the right to

Ever have your salary on the front page of USA Today Money Section?

implement a reorganization plan. The resulting pay back to the banks ($10 million) and recovering 35 cents on the dollar to the shareholders was accomplished in 2 years. The company also went public before actually exiting Chapter 11. In spite of these  herculean efforts, not to mention the fanatical support of Osborne users, it only helped make the end of Osborne a softer landing than it might have been.  But Osborne still ended and Ron was once again out of a job.  Since then, Ron has been involved with various start-ups and companies.

 

Ron's one regret in his life is not getting involved with Rotary sooner.  He treasures the many good people he has met and become friends with through his work and family, but he is convinced that he would have met and befriended even more had he been active in Rotary in his working years. 

 

Thanks for sharing your interesting life with us, Ron.  Whatever your thoughts on not being a part of Rotary earlier, we are certainly glad you are part of Lamorinda Sunrise Rotary now.

 

THE REST OF THE STORY

 

So as to not inflict further "This is my life" pain on our stalwart membership, I have decided to execute my editor's prerogative by finishing the tale and be done with it once and for all. So read on, or not, see if I care.

 

Yes, Osborne came to a less than wonderful end, but other good things came of it for me as a result of our efforts to save that company. I was contacted by the newly named president of Businessland (BL), who happened to be a fraternity brother, former neighbor in Chicago, and one of my successful recruits into IBM at the beginning of our careers. He had watched the Osborne drama playing out and decided I would be a decent candidate to step into a regional manager role with BL, the hard charging computer reseller. The company had hit the $250 million mark in sales and was establishing a solid reputation with personal computer vendors IBM and Compaq. My savior  left the company within six months after I had been hired over a dispute with the founder and original CEO. (Hold that thought). But that opened the door for me to take over the entire U.S. sales operation.

 

Another positive carry-over from Osborne was that I had established a good relationship with the top sales guy at Apple, my former head-to-head rival. Although BL was authorized to sell Apple computers, the sales numbers were a dismal 1% of total sales. Apple was an odd duck in the corporate world due to lack of compatibility with IBM, Compaq and Microsoft software products. However, Apple was an ideal marketing and advertising niche product for corporate America due to its vastly superior operating system with graphics capability. Having had some success at IBM in niche marketing, Bill Campbell and I decided to try something different. I would hire Mac specialists in key branch locations and Apple would pay for them. It wasn't hard to find Mac bigots even then. We would give it one year to show results and then decide to carry on or cut ties. The results were spectacular. At the end of the following two years, BL hit the $1 billion mark in annual revenue, with Apple products coming in at $300 million, or 30% of sales. We were also IBM and Compaq's top resellers. Our service business did well at $150 million; 15% of sales but accounting for 50% of profits.

 

The rosy glow from a billion-dollar year prompted the company to move from NASDAQ to the NYSE in order to promote overseas investors. We rang the bell at the stock exchange and dined with Steve Forbes (he was promoting a national sales tax in place of income tax and contemplating a run for the Presidency). Life was good in the fast lane!

 

BL also became a target for acquisition by two companies, Pacific Bell and British Telecom (BT). Both made offers which the Board soundly rejected. In my opinion, the BT offer was too good to be true. BT would leave our existing operation in place, provide important growth financing, and bring in new, wireless products to be sold through our 52 stores throughout the U.S. They would also help us get established in an overseas operation. I was a vocal advocate for acceptance of the offer. Only one board member supported my position. The board was convinced that "BL is at least a $60 stock and the BT offer of $30 a share is insulting." That quote made it into Herb Caen's column. It's worth noting that the BL stock was at $19 a share when all of this was going on. So this was big mistake #1.

 

Mistake #2 was to think that the company had now become a brand name in the industry and that it could bring out a private label pc which would be readily accepted by existing BL customers. I fought this, but they made it happen. It did not thrill Compaq or IBM to now have a competitor, instead of a partner, for their leading reseller. Compaq immediately cancelled our distribution agreement. There went $100 million in annual sales! IBM came close to pulling the plug, but finally backed off. Apple didn't care as long as their agreement with BL was working.  At this time I stepped out of the sales job with the CFO taking my place. This was the first clue that I was not in the running to become CEO. Instead, I was tasked with building the Services side of the business. Since the company was determined to make up for lost Compaq sales, while driving for increased market share, they ignored the practice of holding the gross margin line on computer pricing. Of course this had a markedly negative effect on quarterly profits. Services revenue could not overcome that.

 

Mistake #3 was the last straw for me. The company was embarking on a 10% across the board cut in employees in order to shore up the bottom line. I refused to participate in the endeavor, arguing that I needed to hire, not cut, or we would be losing more Services revenue and profits. The CEO reminded me that I wasn't in charge, so what was it going to be? (The held thought applies here.) For me it was Sayonara, Baby yet again. I left, got them to agree to vest all of my options, then sold them immediately. So this time I got out of the barn ahead of the sheriff. BL stock plummeted during the year. The company was finally acquired by a vastly inferior reseller, for cash, at $1 a share. My lone supporter on the Board left the scene at the same time I did and also cashed out. Oh yes, Sara and I went to New Zealand to celebrate our most recent liberation from corporate carnage.

 

At the behest of recommendations from IBM, Compaq and Apple, Computerland came calling. I gave that a shot for one year. It turned out to be more of the same dysfunction within the industry. So I called my prot�g� from BL Services, who had moved on to a leading Silicon Valley venture capital firm, to see if he needed help with any start-ups. Either growing them or shutting them down since I seemed to have the aptitude to accomplish either or both sides of the equation. He just happened to have a start-up in need of adult supervision in the exciting new tablet computing industry. My old buddy from Apple had moved on to the presidency of GO Corporation and was happy to welcome me to this new world of pen based computing as the new CEO of Notable Technologies. Even though big names such as Motorola, AT&T, IBM, and Intel got into the game it all petered out after two years.

 

So we re-invented ourselves at Notable and developed a product called "Airnote, everything you need to send and receive wireless messages - Text Pager, Software, Network Activation." (Believe it or not, the forerunner of Twitter). We developed partnerships with Skytel and PageNet. Finally AT&T made us an offer we couldn't refuse. In exchange for a controlling interest in the company, they would market the products through their U.S. wireless sales force. This deal was done through negotiations with top AT&T officials before they, too, headed for greener pastures within three months time. At which point the grand marketing plans disappeared from the landscape. (Jim Barksdale went to Netscape). The company moved to Seattle without me, for which I am eternally grateful. This was to be my last hurrah in terms of corporate experiences. The destinations were certainly suspect, but the journey was amazing.

 

My final efforts were on behalf of my own corporation, with the last seven years as Executive Director of the Infrared Data Association. This is an international body consisting of major technology corporations developing usage standards for infrared technology. The standards are readily emerging world-wide every day through the implementation of wireless payments with mobile phones. This is one time when the major leaders in the organization did not want me to leave. But I convinced them it was time. The good news is that the Association is thriving three years later, primarily being driven from Japan, Korea and Singapore.

 

LESSONS LEARNED

 

Use pictures, not words, to tell your story. (Case in point, the Lamorinda Sunrise Rotary Brochure).

Be nice to others on the way up, they will help you on the way down.

Keep the faith in yourself, there is always another mountain to climb.

Your father is not always right!

Life is not about the destination, it's about the journey.


 

CALENDAR


Friday, 1/7 - Postino's 7 a.m., welcome back

Saturday, 1/8 HOMEteam strikes again! 8:30 a.m.

 

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