{"597356":{"#nid":"597356","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Meet College of Sciences Alumnus Robert M. Price, Former CEO, Control Data Corporation","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EIf you want to know how \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/eye4innovation.typepad.com\/about.html\u0022\u003ERobert M. Price\u003C\/a\u003E came to study at Georgia Tech, you can thank \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.duke.edu\/\u0022\u003EDuke University\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EPrice received his B.S. in mathematics from Duke in 1952. Back then, mathematicians didn\u0026rsquo;t have a lot of options when it came to making money. \u0026ldquo;My career counselors at Duke told me that my best bet was to become an accountant,\u0026rdquo; he says. \u0026ldquo;That didn\u0026rsquo;t appeal to me.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWhat did fire his imagination was finding a way to merge his love of numbers with his rapidly growing interest in computer science, then a nascent discipline.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EPowering Up the Computing Industry\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EPrice kept looking for that chance, and Georgia Tech gave it to him in 1956. That\u0026rsquo;s when Price, freshly married and with a baby on the way, was hired as a programmer at what would eventually be known as the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/philanthropy.gatech.edu\/building\/rich-computer-center\u0022\u003ERich Electronic Computer Center\u003C\/a\u003E. He also started studies for an M.S. in mathematics, which he received in 1958.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWorking and studying at Georgia Tech allowed Price to position himself at the beginnings of the U.S. computer industry because of the job he took at \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Control_Data_Corporation\u0022\u003EControl Data Corporation\u003C\/a\u003E (CDC). Starting as a staff mathematician in 1961, he was chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) before retiring in 1990. During his tenure, Price saw CDC and a handful of others, including \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.ibm.com\/us-en\/\u0022\u003EIBM\u003C\/a\u003E, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.ge.com\/\u0022\u003EGeneral Electric\u003C\/a\u003E, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/UNIVAC\u0022\u003EUNIVAC\u003C\/a\u003E, and \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.honeywell.com\/\u0022\u003EHoneywell\u003C\/a\u003E, build the market for supercomputers.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAt the same time, Price was building CDC\u0026rsquo;s business model and strategy, expanding his company\u0026rsquo;s offerings beyond machines and software to services based on computers and into international markets. The lessons he learned while researching at Tech \u0026ndash; team building, collaboration \u0026ndash; helped him guide his company to new heights.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECollaboration Is Key\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Executive management is, at its root, nothing more than solving problems and learning how to talk to people, to work with people,\u0026rdquo; Price says. \u0026ldquo;The only way a startup like Control Data was going to make significant progress was through collaboration, with competitors and customers,\u0026rdquo; he says. \u0026ldquo;That wasn\u0026rsquo;t the normal way that businesses \u0026ndash; or for that matter universities \u0026ndash; operated in those days. But the problems I was working on begged for a collaborative effort. Georgia Tech has always been a leader in interdisciplinary teams, and it still is today.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe Tech students of 2017, raised on laptops, smartphones, and ubiquitous wireless networks, may have to fire their own imaginations to picture the state of technology in the 1960s: room-sized computers with bulky rotating magnetic drums for data storage and no special programming languages to run the machines.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe widely acknowledged father of supercomputing, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cray.com\/company\/history\/seymour-cray\u0022\u003ESeymour Cray\u003C\/a\u003E, worked at CDC during Price\u0026rsquo;s time. Price says others at CDC were just as brilliant as Cray. \u0026ldquo;It was absolute fun to go to work every day because of some of the most innovative, fun people to work with that I have ever known. They were bright people, but not one-dimensional.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EPrice has other ways to pass along the lessons he\u0026rsquo;s learned from Georgia Tech and CDC. In 1985 he founded the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/nationalcenterforsocialentrepreneurs.wordpress.com\/\u0022\u003ENational Center for Social Entrepreneurs\u003C\/a\u003E, which helps\u0026nbsp;startup companies in the nonprofit sector. Price also exercises his interest in growing technology companies as president and CEO of \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/eye4innovation.typepad.com\/about.html\u0022\u003EPSV Inc\u003C\/a\u003E., which provides small businesses with investment, human resources, and strategy services.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EPrice has spent a lot of time in the classroom since establishing himself in the business world. He has taught at Duke University\u0026rsquo;s \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www-prod.fuqua.duke.edu\/\u0022\u003EFuqua School of Business\u003C\/a\u003E and at the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/pratt.duke.edu\/\u0022\u003EPratt School of Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E. Price has\u0026nbsp;been a guest lecturer at \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cornell.edu\/\u0022\u003ECornell University\u003C\/a\u003E, the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/twin-cities.umn.edu\/\u0022\u003EUniversity of Minnesota\u003C\/a\u003E, \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.northwestern.edu\/\u0022\u003ENorthwestern University\u003C\/a\u003E, \u0026nbsp;and the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/illinois.edu\/\u0022\u003EUniversity of Illinois Urbana-Champaign\u003C\/a\u003E. He\u0026nbsp;sits on the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cos.gatech.edu\/about\/advisory-board\u0022\u003EGeorgia Tech College of Sciences Advisory Board\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAdvice for\u0026nbsp;Tech Students\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EPrice has seen technology companies transform the business and entertainment worlds, and he realizes the enormous potential for more change, thanks to technologies like the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Internet_of_things\u0022\u003EInternet of Things\u003C\/a\u003E. As befitting someone who wrote a book called \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/yalebooks.yale.edu\/book\/9780300123708\/eye-innovation\u0022\u003EThe Eye for Innovation (Yale Press, 2005)\u003C\/a\u003E, Price encourages students of science and engineering to make sure they know the difference between invention and innovation.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Innovation is solving a problem, meeting a need in a better way,\u0026rdquo; he says. \u0026ldquo;Invention is inventing some algorithm or device, and if you don\u0026rsquo;t know what the hell the problem is, or what the device is good for, you\u0026rsquo;re going to waste a lot of time trying to apply your invention.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHe counsels students to make sure they chase their life\u0026rsquo;s passion, not just future paychecks. \u0026ldquo;I would tell them to find something in life that really intrigues them, whether it\u0026rsquo;s manual labor, digging a ditch, or solving equations of fluid dynamics \u0026ndash; whatever it is that is fun for you. If you don\u0026rsquo;t really feel it\u0026rsquo;s all worthwhile, that it\u0026rsquo;s fun, then you\u0026rsquo;re lost from day one.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Computing pioneer urges Tech students to know the difference between invention and innovation"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ERobert M. Price\u0026#39;s time at Georgia Tech helped pave his way as an executive for one of the first companies to make supercomputers in the 1960s, Control Data Corporation. Price recalls studying for his master\u0026#39;s degree in mathematics at Tech while working at the Rich Electronic Computer Center.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Georgia Tech alumnus Robert M. Price looks back on his time on campus and his career at Control Data Corporation."}],"uid":"34434","created_gmt":"2017-10-13 15:39:51","changed_gmt":"2017-10-17 16:29:09","author":"Renay San Miguel","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2017-10-16T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2017-10-16T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"597458":{"id":"597458","type":"image","title":"Robert M. Price (Photo by Andrew Humphrey)","body":null,"created":"1508178008","gmt_created":"2017-10-16 18:20:08","changed":"1508178008","gmt_changed":"2017-10-16 18:20:08","alt":"","file":{"fid":"227742","name":"Robert M. Price.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Robert%20M.%20Price.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Robert%20M.%20Price.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":125526,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Robert%20M.%20Price.jpeg?itok=H0QgxxFK"}}},"media_ids":["597458"],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"1279","name":"School of Mathematics"}],"categories":[{"id":"130","name":"Alumni"}],"keywords":[{"id":"4896","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"168854","name":"School of Mathematics"},{"id":"2748","name":"mathematics"},{"id":"175903","name":"Robert M. Price"},{"id":"175904","name":"Rich Electronic Computer Center"},{"id":"168929","name":"supercomputers"},{"id":"175905","name":"Control Data Corporation"},{"id":"1051","name":"Computer Science"},{"id":"341","name":"innovation"},{"id":"175906","name":"National Center for Social Entrepreneurs"},{"id":"173647","name":"_for_math_site_"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ERenay San Miguel\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications Officer\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCollege of Sciences\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n404-894-5209\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["renay.san@cos.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}