Paul Campbell: measuring success: weather or not.

• Author: Moon, Jake
• Position: People

Paul Campbell doesn't seem like a person who goes to extremes. But his company's products do, making their way to the world's highest heights and lowest temperatures.

Weather stations and dataloggers created by Campbell Scientific, Inc. calculate temperatures, wind speeds, humidity and atmospheric pressure on the highest mountains around the world and in some of the lowest locales, like the depths of the ocean. The CR5, Campbell Scientific's first datalogger, was the first of its kind to process measurements, such as wind speeds and vectors, on the spot.

Even when he's vacationing, Campbell runs into evidence of his company's influence. On a trip to the Picasso Museum in Barcelona, and another museum in Vermont, he noticed that Campbell equipment was used to monitor the temperature and humidity, thus optimizing the exhibits' preservation.

In 1974, Campbell was studying chemistry at Utah State University when two of his brothers, Eric and Evan, offered him a job with their newly created scientific measurement company as it was just beginning to take off. Unfortunately, Eric passed away from cancer in 1992, but Evan still works as vice president of manufacturing while Paul heads the company as president and CEO.

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Campbell, one of a family of eight boys and three girls, was raised on a dry farm in Juniper, Utah. The tasks to perform on the farm were endless, and Campbell points to the ingenuity and hard work learned from their father as factors that contributed to his and his brothers' success in their company. "My father gave responsibility to us, problems to solve, and he expected us to do it," he said. He recalls one time when Eric, then 14, was asked to enlarge the holes on the steel pad of a tractor. Eric...