Armond Schroeder: Schroeder Consulting Service.

• Author: Stomierowski, Peg
• Position: VIEW FROM THE TOP

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Armond Schroeder, of Schroeder Consulting Service in Anchorage, shares this winding account of his business career:

"I started working with IBM as a systems engineer in 1963, but since I came from a family of entrepreneurs, eventually I pulled up stakes and came to Alaska to seek my fortune. I started a consulting business providing computer software and services."

After some hard beginnings, "I was fortunate to be appointed the equivalent of an associate professor at University of Alaska, head of computer information systems, teaching a curriculum I'd designed. I held this post from 1970 to 1979--about the time it also took to turn a profit in my little consulting enterprise. I then traded the security ... of academia for the low-down and dirty world of the shrewd businessman--full-time.

"In 1978, I opened a branch office in New Orleans, and in the '80s, had employees in offices in Los Angeles and Boston.... I'd grown to more than 300 clients and written a couple of popular programs. In 1989, I sold one to MAI Systems Corp. and began managing one of their units."

After MAI failed in a hostile takeover bid (Prime) and declared Chapter 11, "I decided to incorporate a business in California, hiring mostly from MAI. I negotiated a contract with U.S. AID to automate 27 cooperative banks in Central America, incorporated a business in Tegucigalpa and executed the contract over five years.

"In 1994, I sold my interests to Comparator Systems Corp. of Newport Beach, California, and became president of their newly formed financial services division. When the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recommended the resignation of Comparator's chairman and CEO, I was asked to step in. After a few months of working with SEC, attorneys and shareholders, I went back to Alaska."

Schroeder, besides job and family, is active in church and Rotary. He's led his local club and worked in overseeing grants for two clean-water projects and an ophthalmology lab in India.

ABM: How do you view your leadership role?

Schroeder: As a facilitator, connecting clients and employees so both achieve their goals. Also as a leader, setting the example for others to contribute time and resources in support of charitable organizations and the community and world.

ABM: What have been your greatest lessons in the...