Way back in the days of selling typewriters and copiers, I was asked by a professor at Pacific Luthern University (PLU) to be a guest instructor on the subject of Entrepreneurship. The class went well, and I was asked to return and speak on similar subjects by other professors at PLU. One of these professors also taught a course at the University of Puget Sound, and before long I was a visiting speaker on that campus.
Someone from Pacific National Bank (PNB) called and asked me to speak to their banker’s group. PNB was the largest financial institution in Washington state. It had the largest building in Tacoma, a huge high rise. It would eventually become Wells Fargo. I spoke to their group of bankers about taxation legislation that had recently been passed into law. That engagement was followed by a request by the director of the Ben B. Cheney Foundation, whose offices were on the 7th floor of the bank, to speak to federal inmates. A spooky thought at the time.
Along with my sponsor, the Cheney director, I took the prison boat to McNeil Island in Washington’s Puget Sound, a notorious federal penitentiary from 1875 to 1976, often called the "Alcatraz of the Pacific Northwest". It was a surreal experience. My talk was crowded and well-received. I would come back and speak twice more. It was there that I met two very high-profile politicos from US president Nixon’s administration. They had been part of the infamous Watergate scandal which had been all over the media. They were literally household names for years. H.R. Haldeman had been Nixon’s Chief of Staff and closest aide, and John Ehrlichman, top advisor to the White House. These guys were deeply connected in both the business and political worlds, but here they were serving out a plea deal in a serious prison. What part they may have played in what was to follow is hard to know, but some kind of connection was definitely made.
After speaking at McNeil, which subsequently got media coverage, I received calls to speak at a couple of State prisons, plus two community colleges, along with my routine church activities and charitable events. I did not return to McNeil Island after three visits, but the mental experience lingered. It turned out that the director of the Cheney Foundation, my sponsor to McNeill, was deeply connected to old money in Western Washington and beyond. I learned a great deal from him.
When the first plain paper copier came available to independent dealers through Litton Industries Royal Typewriter division in early 1970s, I got several dealership appointments. Cheney offered to step in and fund an equipment lease company for me. These copiers were very expensive compared to the average treated paper copiers. With serious financing in place, I expanded across the country and became the largest typewriter, and the largest independent plain paper copier dealership in the US for a few years. This in turn generated trips around the world, all kinds of gifts, and a lot of attention.
The Tacoma News Tribune did a series of human-interest articles on me for six Sundays in a row, mostly because I was provided a PR guy from the college to enhance my media creditability. The newspaper seemed especially interested in my large family, my hobby of Mayan archeology and my religious orientation. These articles caught the attention of others. Before long I was introduced by the Cheney group to George Weyerhaeuser, president of the largest private land holding company in the world and 2nd largest employer in the state of Washington, outside of government.
At the time, all the media attention seemed like simple coincidence, but then I got a call from a smallish college I had never heard of. Prometheus. The operational director wanted me to address their board of directors on federal legislative changes regarding the use of taxation strategies, something I studied. It turned out he was hopeful of securing further tax-deductible donations with possible further enhancements due to new laws recently in effect. I had earlier put together a process I called “pencil selling” which used math and tax write-offs to sell expensive items. At the time of the call, I was busy and did not want to take the time to do another “free” presentation, especially to a small college I had never heard of. Then I got a call from Cheney saying I needed to attend. Cheney was my financier so attend I did.
Oddly, we met in the boardroom of the University of Puget Sound, and I learned that Prometheus was the brainchild of Governor Dan Evans. He called it a college without walls. It was only a few years old but fully accredited via the Pacific Northwest Accreditation Council, the primary regional accrediting agency for higher education in the Pacific Northwest covering Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington.
Prometheus was certified to conduct educational programs through PhD’ level, with various Master programs certified. Classes were generally held in other college classrooms at odd times, primarily after hours when those employed could attend to further their education. Students were required to already have a bachelor’s degree. The college was designed for earning higher degrees in order to advance employment in government, educational institutions and large industrial companies. Some course study was provided from Prometheus’ own campus in north Tacoma. It was not large but actually very cool.
On the board was the president of Weyerhaeuser. I didn’t actually recognize him at first but was conscious that I had met him somewhere. I was introduced to the board by someone I did not know then but subsequently came to truly admire. Fred Haley, the president of Brown and Haley candy company. (Almond ROCA, Mountain Bars, etc.) The Board was a collection of old money presidents including St Regis paper company, Nalley's Fine Foods, Weyerhaeuser and several others. After my presentation, they asked if I would wait in another room for a while. I did. Way too long, and I was getting very anxious to get back to work.
When I was called back into the board meeting, I was asked to join the board. Frankly, I was shocked. I was not yet out of my 20’s. Everyone else in the room was more than twice my age. It turned out they had already voted and I was now on the board, if I accepted. I suppose I must have seemed pretty naïve.
The board asked me to stay a bit longer for further board action. It turned out, all of these very wealthy, high-society guys, were on the board as figureheads at the behest of the governor. None of them wanted to actually do much other than use their connections to assist when needed. Fred Haley was the exception. He was super dedicated to higher education. Fred agreed to be Vice Chair of the Board as newly constituted. No one wanted to be the public face as chairman. One by one, they declined the offer to be the Chairman.
Somehow, by default I became the Board Chair. I was told it was temporary until the next board meeting. I agreed to do so with the caveat that I needed someone to bring me up to speed. The operational director was assigned to me. We would become good friends, share meals, and spend many hours sharing information. The issue of Board Chair was never brought up again and I stayed in that capacity for three more years. Over time, and because of various board members, I would be asked to be part of the opening of a new wing of the largest hospital in Tacoma, to open a new section of the Tacoma Zoo, sit on a civil rights mediation board and chair a political action committee. I continued to serve in the capacity of Board Chairman of Prometheus until we merged it into a similar style well known college from Ohio. Antioch University. Antioch was then expanding into the western states. Prometheus would eventually become Antioch University Seattle.
While in a Prometheus board meeting before its merger, Fred Haley would receive a telephone call from the White House. President Carter came on the line and asked Fred to be the next director of the Ford Educational Foundation. A multi-Billion-dollar educational grant-issuing institution. It was a huge honor. Fred accepted. It was quite something. Everyone celebrated with Rainer Beer and chocolates brought in from Fred’s experimental kitchens. I ate the chocolates but was the only one that did not drink the beer.