The 50th anniversary of Control Data's founding was marked by a celebration of the company's great legacy of innovation. That legacy was marked by the term innovation, a term that is not just a buzzword or PR jargon, but rather one where the company and employees truly “walked the talk.” For Control Data, innovation was the province of everyday people in all functions of the company - administrators, sales people, engineers, researchers, software developers and HR people. The outpouring of innovation over three decades was much greater than even those associated with the company realized.
This became evident in the very first discussion panel. The company blazed trails in high-performance computers, in computer storage and other peripheral devices, in data network and in computer-based education. A special treat of the event was a video clip made for the occasion by Dr. Don Bitzer, the PLATO design guru then at the University of Illinois and now a professor at North Carolina State University. Working in partnership with software and hardware people at Control Data, Don produced such advanced software as Groupware and email, packet-switched communication networks, and a flat screen plasma display for which he received an Emmy.
Perhaps more striking was the discussion of innovation and management practices. Some of these practices helped Control Data’s people be among the most productive in the industry. There were pioneering innovations such as the Employee Advisory Resource, a Staywell Program, telecommunications for the physically handicapped and an Employee Entrepreneurial Advisory Office which provided confidential counseling to employees who wished to leave the company to start their own businesses.
The company’s innovative approach to nurture the formation or spin off of small businesses was made clear in presentations by Mike Moore, the Director of the W. C. Norris Institute at the University of St. Thomas, and in presentations by successful entrepreneurs Paul Sustman and Larry Jodsaas. A third entrepreneur, Nasser Kazeminy, was precluded from being present (not surprisingly) because of last minute high level government meetings in the United Kingdom.
The dedication of the company to nurture small business was perhaps best symbolized by a painting of a soaring eagle done by Mario Fernandez. Mario is a Cuban refugee who, with Control Data's help, started his own engineering company. However, he soon discovered that his talent as an artist exceeded that of his engineering skill. The original eagle painting which is titled "The Entrepreneur" was presented to the company some years ago and was the feature clip of the final video of the Celebration Event.
The last panel of the evening discussed Control Data's legacy in innovative roles in industry and society. The panelists were David Gardner, journalist and author, the Honorable George Latimer, former mayor of St. Paul, Chuck Denny, a prominent Twin Cities businessman and former president of the High Tech Council, and Dean Chris Puto of the Opus College of Business, University of St. Thomas. The panel was chaired by Al Eisele, former assistant to Walter Mondale and editor of "The Hill" publication in Washington, D.C. These five people provided a wonderful perspective on what Control Data's innovation meant in industry and in the community.
