MSA memories — the basics
When I became a software analyst in 1981, MSA (Management Science America) was generally regarded as the leading cross-industry financial software vendor. Its CEO was the colorful John Imlay, best known for a variety of showman stunts, such as bringing animals to sales meetings. (He also was known as “the man who killed the keypunch” from his hardware days, when he took a sledgehammer on stage to a keypunch machine in a presentation introducing key-to-disk technology.) The president was Bill Graves, the most agile 300 poundish guy I’ve ever seen off of a football field, and still the only person at whose house I’ve held hands during the saying of Grace.
MSA software ran only on IBM mainframes. There were a limited number of modules. I specifically recall an ad campaign for the “Big Eight,” because they had eight modules, and the “Big Eight” were the public accounting firms in those days. The eight included payroll, human resources, and six financial modules, which were general ledger, accounts payable, accounts receivable, purchasing, fixed assets, and probably inventory. That’s all, versus the hundreds of modules successor companies have today.
MSA obviously modeled its “persona” on IBM. Indeed, the MSA logo consisted of the three letters in a font that consisted of thin parallel horizontal lines, exactly like IBM’s of that day did. Another major slogan was “People are the key,” with little key lapel pins given to five- and ten-year employees.
MSA struggled with the technological move from batch to real-time packages, and lost ground to M&D (McCormack & Dodge) over those struggles, but made it in time to survive. Eventually, MSA was acquired by Dun & Bradstreet, which had already bought M&D, and the two arch-rivals merged into D&B Software. The whole thing stagnated – most mainframe software was doing badly by the late 1980s — and eventually was spun out to Geac, which recently has been LBOed, and another reshuffling is now underway.
MSA eventually diversified into industry-specific vertical market software. In particular, it bought MRP vendor Comserv. It also bought Information Associates, which sold software mainly to universities and other non-profit organizations.
MSA actually had a large collection of the software industry’s notable executives and characters. The head of development was Dennis Vohs, who most people thought might be better suited to be a sales guy. The head of sales was Don House, who most people thought might be better suited to be a development guy. Vohs’ chief lieutenants included Larry Smart and Pat Tinley, both of whom went on to be software company CEOs. Vohs, Tinley, and Joe Southworth (perhaps MSA’s brightest development exec) went on to run Ross Systems. Doug MacIntyre, later CEO of a couple of companies, was MSA’s first VP of marketing. Fran Tarkenton, the ex-football player, was allegedly an exec. So far as I could tell, this amounted mainly to their conference room being called “Fran Tarkenton’s office,” with some of his trophies kept there. Apparently, people liked being in Fran Tarkenton’s office, and this helped sales. Tarkenton later went on to found CASE vendor Tarkenton Software, which merged into James Martin’s pet CASE company Knowledgeware. MSA’s obligatory bankruptcy staving-off story is John Arnold (later Northeast region sales chief) making a sale that was contingent on a financial stability reference, then hanging out in a phone booth to take a call and fake the reference himself. Well, actually the early days of the company were a mess, which is why Imlay was brought in to fix it, but that’s so far back in the late 60s and/or early 70s that I never really knew the details. But at one time MSA stood for “Management Science Atlanta.”
The executive team Imlay replaced included Jim Edenfield and Tom Newberry, who went on to found American Software. Other notable ex-MSAers include Rick Page and other principals of his sales training company. And MSA also owned Peachtree Software for a while, which was a leading microcomputer accounting software vendor in its day.
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[...] MSA (Management Science America). This section got so long I’m breaking it out as a separate post just about MSA. [...]
Dear sir,
I am trying to track down a fellow who used to work for MSA
and then started with Cullinet. He was the Regional Sales Manager
for Cullinet in the late 80’s and went on to Data Cable from there.
We would like to make contact with him if at all possible. His name
was Christopher R. Malcolm. His wife was Charlotte, and they lived
in Europe for a while when he was with the company. If you have some
info please let me know. It involves some family he is unaware of
and would like to find him.
I enjoyed this brief write up, but would tell the story much differently. I was there in what I think of as the golden era of 1978-1988. What made MSA work then was that Imlay made the company right for the time. It was a time, when service and sales prowess could make a software company successful. At that time, we had all the tools to be the leader. There was no great emphasis on development because the competitive landscape did not demand it. It did demand great selling and great support and that is what we delivered. By the late 80s companies like Oracle and SAP (I worked for both later) made technology the key. But in the golden era, “people were the key”. This was the highlight of my career and the best times of my life. I have thanked John Imlay for what he did for me, other and the customer. He was and is a true leader.
Hmm. I’m not sure I can accept the claim that technology had fundamentally different levels of importance at different points in time.
Xerox Computer Services was a $100 million enterprise, with sales training so good that a lot of the other companies’ sales folks got their starts there. Yet it fizzled. If MSA had more thoroughly flubbed the move from batch to real time, it would have gone away years earlier. And so on.
Obviously, platform technology was much less of an issue in the character-based, pre-relational era than it was later on. A larger fraction of app vendors died from the switch to client-server/RDBMS than died in any platform shift before or after. But I think you overstated the case by far.
Or am I missing the gist of what you said?
But no matter what, thanks for posting!! I want to collect as many thoughts and impressions at this site as I can. There’s a lot of history that shouldn’t be lost.
CAM
Hi Gary – I also enjoyed the article here. I got here by
searching for John Imlay as I was telling folks I work with about what
a great place MSA was to work. One correction that I would make was that
we didn’t get pins after five or ten years but shortly after we joined the
company. It made you feel like part of a valuable group right away. I
feel John was a pioneer in how to treat people who work for you. When Microsoft
first started and some of the silicon valley start ups tried a similar
approach. Now with overseas outsourcing and constant reductions in force
people have been lost in the shuffle. I remember my time working for MSA
very fondly as well. Diane
Hi Diane!
I thought you got nicer pins — silver, gold, whatever — after longer tenure.
Best,
CAM
I’m sure it’s a real long shot, but several of the posters seem likely to have great knowledge about MSA. I am desperately trying to find some manuals/information regarding how to control security to the MSA Accounts Payable package (screens smm –> sem). Is there still such documentation/information available out there? Would it be the “Data Processing Guide”? I have the “Operator’s Guide”, but it doesn’t really discuss security. I would really appreciate any help. Thank you.
I started my software career in MSA back in 1981 in the UK. A couple of things
about John Imaly. I remember a HR Director at a Imlay Lunch in London saying
“John how do balance managing MSA and speaking around the world?”, John’s
response was “Look around the room you will see a number of my team here, I am leading from the front and
pulling my company with me, have you ever tried to push a rope?”
With regard to the key on your first day MSA gave you a silver key from Tiffanys, and your spouse,
and it was upgraded to gold after 5 years, after 10 diamonds were added to the ladies brooch . In the UK we still have reunions, the next is planed for early November, they are named
‘The Broken Key Club’ and we can still get 40+ ex MSA employees and I am not sure that any other software company of that era can boast the same.
Like most people I have fond memories of my 8 years at MSA and when you look
around the software industry today many of the leaders are still influency these new technologies
I worked at MSA (incidentally, it was Management Science America – not Atlanta) as a very young, entry level administrative support staff member in the early to mid-eighties. I, too, loved working there and maintain contact with a few of my former co-workers. I remember the company as an action-packed, moving and shaking leader in the software industry that was just so incredibly exciting to be a part of.
John Imlay was larger than life and Bill Graves was larger than that. The collective talent and brilliance of the upper management team was amazing to watch and learn from.
Hi, Rebecca!
About that name thing — I stand by my story. The switch from “Atlanta” to “America” was long before I covered the company or you worked there. If I had to guess, it was somewhere in the 1971-3 timeframe.
My name is Ed O’Neill and i am proud to have been a small part of MSA in the early ’80s. John Imlay, Larry Smart were inovator then and the fact the “company” landed w/detriment. That is a story i dont have time for now. What i want to do is find my old fthje Omni and looking friends Steve Carter, Chris Malcolm, Danny Abadin, Bob Layson. It has been 25 years and i am coming down for the Final Four, staying at the Omni.
Ed, Steve Carter is at a company in Atlanta named North Highland Consulting. He’s
been there several years and reachable. See this site above or here: http://www.northhighland.com/locations/Atlanta.html.
Kevin Ashworth
http://www.northhighland.com/locations/Atlanta.html.
I too worked at MSA during the glory days, through the merger with M&D, and the buyout by Geac, overall
a total of 15 years. Things started going downhill when Imlay sold out and left the company. When he left
the focus changed from the employees to the business.
Looking back, and having worked as a consultant in numerous IT shops since then, the
thing that made MSA successful was they truly practiced what they preached with the phrase “People are the
key”. They hired smart agressive people and rewarded them for their hard work and effort.
People would come into work at all hours of the day and night and enjoy it. MSA trained their employees and
taught them the proper way to design and build software. That produced results. It wasn’t perfect,
but I truly believe if more companies treated their IT staff the way MSA treated their employees,
there would be a lot more happy IT people in Atlanta. MSA was the Google of the 80’s.
Actually, Mike, and this doesn’t at all contradict what you said, MSA had a big emphasis on stealing employees from firms that had good entry-level training themselves. Developers tended to come from EDS. (Including Bill Graves himself?) Salesmen tended to be former ADP sales managers.
A small correction, Curt. MSA didn’t steal employees from EDS…they stole EDS’ entire training curriculum instead. In the early to mid-1980s, they had something called the “Career Development Program” (CDP) which recruited heavily from colleges. It was essentially modeled after the EDS “boot camp” to the point where new hires into the CDP program had userids that were prefixed with “EDS”.
They went from having one CDP class per year, to two a year, and rapidly ramped up to almost bimonthly class starts. 10 to 20 neophyte programmers in each class. Many of the CDP grads were fanatically loyal to the company: I can name a half dozen or so CDP graduates from the 1980s still working for the latest version of MSA (MSA –> Dun and Bradstreet —> Geac —> Extensity —> Infor Global Solutions). They’ve all been with the company for 20+ years now and have never worked anywhere else. You don’t see that kind of loyalty to a corporation in America nowadays, especially in the IT field!
MSA truly had the “best and the brightest” throughout the 1980s. It was a young, hard working, hard partying camraderie. The yearly “Kick off” meetings were the highlight of the year, often held at Atlanta’s Fox Theater where no expense was spared.
Oh, and that last module you referenced in your initial post wasn’t “inventory”, it was the late unlamented “Forecasting and Modeling” module, the balkiest, most unforgiving piece of mainframe software ever developed.
Ah, the good old days. I was with MSA from 83-87 and left just prior to the D&B buyout. From what I heard I was glad I did. Several of my friends remained and said the company just wasn’t the same anymore.
To this day, I felt it was the best person oriented company I had ever worked for. As mentioned, the kick-off meeting/extravaganza, the Friday afternoon theme parties on the front lawn, softball teams, bowling teams, etc. Everyone worked hard and played hard. They definitely did their homework before hiring someone. Not only did they have to be technically proficient, they had to be “compatible” with others. I went through a 9 hour “interview” process, meeting with several different managers, HR, technical people, etc. They definitely treated their employee’s right. I remember the CDP program. They cranked out brainwashed MSA bots I think every 13 or 18 weeks, something like that. I don’t mean brainwashed in a bad way. They just took raw students, programmed in the MSA way, then let them loose with the rest of us. Seemed to work quite well.
One of my favorite times was going on the all expense paid trip to Hilton Head as a result of winning the Olympian Award…. and I do mean “All expense paid”. You got there, they handed you a card, and said you can basically go anywhere except buying gifts and it’s on the company. It was awesome.
I really wish I had kept in touch with my friends there, but It’s been a LONG TIME now. If your out there, drop me a line. Since this post probably monitors patterns in text, I’ll just say my email address is kcanniff at gmail.com.
I started at MSA and ended at DBS from 1989 – 1993.
I wish I had kept in touch with all the friends I made at the company, I still talk about my days at the company what a good time we had. It was truly the best company to work for and I am proud to have been apart of such a company, if only I could find another company like it.
What seems to be missed in all the preceding dialog, is the story of the “incredible shrinking software company”. This DBS merger, driven internally and secretively by Bain, turned MSA and M&D, these innovative and very competitive companies into dust.
On paper, a half billion dollar company, newly minted as Dung (pun intended) and Bradstreet Software was laid open to the US market entry of a German firm, SAP. M&D (we knew how to beat them), and likely, MSA were learning how to compete with this upstart entree, SAP.
Just at this moment, Bain (yes, the same sleeeeazy company Mitt Romney was part of) suggests the timing of this merger is brilliant. So M&D and MSA energies are diverted to merger while SAP usurps the US market at precisely the most inappropriate time.
End of story – MSA and M&D, hand the market to SAP and, as DBS, reach a combined market value of zero, thus, the incredible sucking sound of lost American enterprise in the name of greed.
M&D was a great company with marvelous, creative and innovative people. I loved working there. Same goes for MSA. We enjoyed competing with each other.
Bain turned it to dust.
Those were the days – I worked at MSA/Chicago in the late 80’s. It was a great place to work and what a learning experience. The travel was a lot of fun and the clients were the best. I have nothing but the best memories – Great friends, management, and company (until they sold out.)
I left soon after D&B took over and went to work for a small Software consulting firm in Western New York.
Dennis Vohs is my uncle. Yep.
How fun to read these posts. It was indeed an exciting place to work.
I was sales support in the Toronto, Canada office in the late 70’s and early
eighties. Remember User Groups? I went on the sales trips to Hilton Head
and Maui and User Group meetings in San Franciso and I think it was Portland,
Maine.
MSA people sure know how to have a good time. We said MSA stood for money, sex and
adventure.
I went to Cullinet, then called Cullinane. Like John Imlay, John Cullinane was
a giant.
I am now living in The Bahamas, a refugee from Canadian winters.
I never worked for MSA, but instead was the U.S. Vice President for a Japanese software services/marketing company (Fuyo Information Systems). Fuyo was the sales partner in Japan for Applied Data Research (ADR), based in Princeton, NJ (Roscoe,Vollie,Ideal,Datacom DB). John Imlay was close with the ADR President, Marty Goetz, and was a guest speaker at the big bashes that ADR held. John was known for his great jokes and sense of humor.
Those years during the 1980’s were truly the “Golden Age” of mainframe software. Lavish spending, international meetings in exotic locations, and pleasant work environments. Little did we realize that some dark clouds were on the horizon: Personal computers and the imminent recession of the 1990’s!!!
All good things come to an early end. Budgets tightened, good companies swallowed by larger greedy companies, cubicles instead of offices with windows, glass windows replaced by Microsoft Windows, slow decline of mainframe software, etc. ADR was bought by Computer Associates, and most ADR people were immediately laid off. Office environments became less friendly, benefits reduced, and more internal competition among employees at most companies. Loyalty became extinct, and mainframe software programmers were put on the “endangered species list.” The Golden Age is over, and now we can only reminisce.
Alan Dash (ex-Computer Sciences Corp. and Fuyo)
“No amount of planning will ever replace dumb luck and good salesmanship.”
That was the ‘key’ learning experience I gained from my tenure at MSA.
I now live on Maui and owe it all to the software industry experience of the 70’s and 80’s
What ever happened to Andy Walton? Beth Hunt – ru out there somewhere?
Aloha
I worked at MSA in the early ’80s, also in the Toronto office. I knew when I found this thread, there’d be someone I knew. Liz, how are you?
I kept in touch with a few MSA-ers – Brian Rooney, Dorothy (Bunny) Brandt (don’t know if she went back to her maiden name). Now not so much. Have lost touch with Gari (nee) Burrows snce the early ’90s.
It was absolutely the best place to work. Work hard/play hard was virtually defined by them. We’d do training classes ending on Fridays. After the sessions, we’d open the bar and employees & customer/students would sit around drinking till all hours.
My MSA years were from 1980 to 1990, based in the UK and Sweden.
The MSA approach was great – hire bright people, give them training and opportunity and, most importantly, give them more responsibility if they could handle it, irrespective of age, connections, sex etc.
What a shame the Bainite’s and other managed to turn 2 500 million dollar companies into one 300 million dollar comapny in the space of a year or 2. Still, our own fault for hiring the idiots in the first place.
Imlay was a true leader and front man. He also made sure he had a detail guy (Graves) close behind him and that is a lesson we all can learn.
I am still in touch with many ex-MSA’ers. The UK IT sector is littered with them. If only we had a secret handshake.
To this day Imlay is the only guy I purposefully lost to at golf!
The MSA division that I worked for was the folks that bought Arista Manufacturing Systems from Xerox Computer Services. They were far from happy-go-lucky.
They had no clue about production and inventory control software and essentially ruined the business.
They were acutely paranoid people that freaked out when E-Systems informed me that they would not be calling anymore until the recording device was removed from the phone system. They were recording the first 10 seconds of every phone call, looking for headhunters calling “their” people.
On the other hand, we had an MSA critter calling programmers all day, every day, trying to recruit then from other companies. I was told that he was a “recruiter”, not a “headhunter”.
If they found out that you were job hunting, you were immmediately fired.
Although they knew almost nothing about production and inventory control systems and even less about selling them, they made it very clear that if they wanted any help or information that they would ask.
Obviously, you cannot get creative with general ledger software, but manufacturing software is highly custom, and Arista had an entire department devoted to doing custom modifications for our customers. MSA decided that modifying a standard software product was stupid and that our customers should learn to adapt to the “standard” product. That angered the customer base and surprised the MSA folks.
Arista and Comserv were strong rivals and sold hard against each other for years. So, MSA bought Comserv. If you found a manufacturing software prospect, what would you sell him? Another really dopey move on their part.
Basically, MSA took a company that was the #1 provider of manufacturing software to Fortune 500 companies and tanked it on their watch.
I’m grateful to MSA because the showed me that I just didn’t have the DNA to tolerate stupid corporate bullshit any more, so I became an entrepreneur.
I agree that John Imlay was a really funny guy, but he wasn’t the force behind MSA then, just the face of it.
MSA was indeed the place to be in the 80’s. I enjoyed the opportunity that was presented to the employees. I had the opportunity to work with a lot of very good people. With all the CDP teaching I did in my spare time I learned far more than I taught. I continue to run into a lot of this group throughout the country and every MSA’er I meet again brightens my day.
The internal project “Screen Paint” was much like what SAP is. The idea of RIO’s(relational input output) and REM’s(Record Edit Modules) to handle editing and data integrity was ahead of its time. It was just a struggle to deliver it on time. I still remember installing it at HBO in NYC and Society National Bank before they pulled the plug. Somewhere I still have a VHS copy of the Mission Impossible tape made to celebrate the project.
Thanks to all the MSA’ers that have remind me of the incredible time we had at MSA. The Olympian celebrations, the annual banquet at the FOX and all the Interacts were some of the best times I have ever had. Thanks for the memories.
[...] nothing new here. Back in the 1980s, we used to joke that MSA made 10% of its annual revenue and 100% of its profits between the 32nd and 40th of [...]
I worked for M&D from 1987 until 1993, when I was laid off due to the “merger”. Actually, it was more of a takeover. Another factor, and a sizable one, in the demise of the combine D&B Software was the rivalry. It was an unfortunate choice to make MSA the controlling part. Most of the employees at MSA hated us. Instead of mergering to become a better company, the goal was to remove as much of M&D as possible. I was a senior-level programmer. I met with such terrible enmity when I demonstrated the Millennium platform, which they were eventually forced to use to build a new Customer Information Database, which M&D had just completed prior to the takeover, but was deemed completely useless.
The beginning of the end was the dismissal of Frank Dodge. Then, corporate management shifted from Framingham, MA, to Atlanta. MSA management kept pulling to Atlanta all of the Framingham functions, laying off mostly just M&Ders. It was a horrible time.
It seemed to me that the plan was to rid the world of everything M&D, not because the products or services were bad, but because it belonged to M&D. After the takeover, the atmosphere was one of hostility, sneakiness, and discontent. The company would probably still be around today in some form if the takeover had not happened, and Frank Dodge had remained in charge. I loved working at M&D. It was a great experience. What a shame…
I made a lot of money with the letters MSA. Thank you John Imlay and the others for selling your software to 3 different companies where I was employed. They loved me than. They thought I was an application systems expert. They paid me well for knowing all about MSA. Alas, it is all over now. I now project manage Client Server and Web systems that have no idea of my glorious past.
Recently reconnected with Ron McKenzie. He’s still in ‘lanna. We talk about once a week. It’s great to reminisce about the old days.
I worked at MSA in their Santa Monica office from 1984-1987 – was hired right out of USC. It was a great company to work for and I had and amazing boss Debra Gallagher. She was inspiring and motivational. Under her leadership I created many programs for the company, including Seminar Planning and Territory Management Software, for use by the marketing divisions to increase sales. After about two years my boss moved to Atlanta and my new boss was not happy about my having won Employee of the Month too many times. Under his leadership, I started to hate my job and ultimately left the company. Those corporate retreats were a blast. Ahh, the days of wearing 3 piece suits, fun, but I don’t miss it. Now I’m strictly a shorts and t-shirt guy in Maui running a successful publishing company. But I really thank MSA for teaching me about business and how to work with others. Oh, and my brother Sean got a job there shortly after and worked for years after I left, and then as an MSA independent software consultant on his own.
If anyone is still following this string of messages regarding MSA (Management Science America), I agree that it was one of the best companies to work for during the 80’s and early 90’s. That’s why numerous people with MSA on their resume went on to start/lead other software companies in Atlanta as well as throughout the world.
With “People are the Key” as the MSA slogan, John Imlay used to joke that we were to wear those silver, gold, or gold w. diamond Tiffany keys on our pajamas, but these keys were a great symbol and were known throughout the industry — if you forgot to take it off before going out for drinks after work, someone would inevitably recognize that you worked for MSA…..
But these keys served their intent well: during those days (prior to the D&B regime), we were made to feel each of us was an important cog in the wheel. We were expected to work very hard, traveling to podunk on a moment’s notice, etc., but where else would you find managers pushing the beer cart through the halls on Friday afternoon or gathering everybody together to watch the movie “Planes, Trains, & Automobiles”???
I went from running the Accounts Payable Dept. at Georgia Tech using the MSA software to being a post-sales consultant on the A/P software in the SE Region at MSA. During my second week on the job, we all went to Callaway Gardens for 3 days for a team-building event. From staid Georgia Tech to MSA — what a cultural change! I eventually came to manage MSA’s internal and external events, including Travel Services, User Conferences, and Incentive Programs. Who knew you could get paid for having so much fun! Our customers recognized the value of this commaraderie, which is why so many of them ended up working for MSA.
I transferred to D&B Corporate in 1992 but maintained my office in the “Pink Palace” in Atlanta (although they eventually had to replace those pink windows) even after GEAC bought D&B Software. As one of the last ones left in that building before the GEAC offices were moved to Perimeter Center, I virtually turned off the lights — what a sad day.
As shown in some of these messages, the culture “took” and there are ex-MSA groups all over the world who still get together after 20+ years. (Here in Atlanta, Ferrall Summerell, an executive at MSA for many, many years, hosts quarterly lunches.)
There is also a Yahoo Group site at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/exMSA moderated by Tom Bossie where many exMSAers communicate via email with the group, whether it’s to ask how to get in touch with someone from the past, informing the community about a job search or job availability, to learning about the loss of someone. Go to that URL and sign up; Tom will review your request and hopefully you’ll be able to find some of your old friends. It’s a valuable tool to keep up with what’s going on with this great group of people.
Hi Beth and All,
I started working at MSA in 1980 and survived the years of mergers and layoffs until 2006 — by then it was Geac. The majority of my time with the company was spent of the development team, and later support team, for the Information Expert product — still being used after aver 25 years.
I agree with most all of the comments made here by the other former MSAers. MSA was the best company that I worked for in my 35+ years in the software industry. We wore our keys (yes, we got the silver ones on the first day at work) proudly. We recognized each other in airports and places around the world by those keys. I was fortunate enough to be hired when the company was still small enough that John hosted new hires to lunch in his office and gave us our keys personally.
We worked hard and played hard together. The people I worked with were some of the brightest and best in the industry — as has been shown by what they went on to do.
I do stay in touch with as many former MSAers as I can. Those who came after we became D&B or Geac never really quite understood our loyalty to MSA and our love for that company. If only such a culture existed today!!
Curt, thanks for mention. I took the lovely parting gifts in 1990 and started The Complex Sale, Inc. which has been called a halfway house for abused sales managers. Among our principals are Brad Childress, Joe Terry, Jon Hauck, Rob Goodwin, Dave Stargel, Liz Freeman McCune, and Joe Southworth. In the past Nichols, Aufdemburge, Jerry Ellis, and Kathy Millen also worked here.
Don House and John Imlay built one of the best salesforces ever and when we merged, we had Noah’s ark (two of each position) so half left and became a great network for TCS, since I had trained them there.
MSA was the best place that one could work from about 1976 to 1986. After we went public, it was never the same. We were running the company for the stock price.
But was a smart bunch of fun people. We can only now sneak back into some of the hotels and resorts where we partied. And the older we get, the better we were.
We had people in software development??
I worked at MSA from 1980-1982. I learned a great deal during that time about programming, sales and marketing. I remember the parties and the long hours. I worked converting the IBM code to other hardwares Univac and Burroughs wcome to mind. Loved hearing John Imlay talk. I used him as a yardstick to measure other CEO’s. Few were as good as he was. Later worked for PeopleSoft, little was said about PeopleSoft, did many a conversion from MSA to PeopleSoft in the 1990’s. Last year I did one more and saw the old MSA documentation. I still have my Keys. Best wishes to all.
Greetings all former MSAers!
I have often said that if I could ever go back to graduate school I have the perfect thesis topic, ‘How to take two world class software companies, combine them and run that company into the ground.’ I know that’s far too simple, but remembering some of the decisions that were made – often alienating a customer base that was fantastic and the dedicated employees that supported them – still makes me very sad.
I did learn so much from the people there. And I miss the picnics, the long days and the focused work.
The best lessons are that there is life after MSA/M&D/DBS/GEAC and that shared laughter, even when working all hours, makes up for many small irritations along the way.
Some of my comments have already been stated by various MSAers, but it’s absolutely true that MSA was the best place to work in the world during the early days. I was there from 1977-1989, and I’ve been searching for another experience like that ever since. We used to jokingly call it “Camelot”, not realizing how close to the truth that was. The culture was inspiring, the atmosphere dynamic, and the people are still the most talented I have ever seen in one company.
Among the thousands of memories that I have I think the thing that stands out the most is the incredible drive and creativity that people had to win – whatever it takes. There was a swagger, an arogance that all of the best teams exhibit, and MSA had it in spades. Competitors resented it, insulted it, didn’t understand it, but envied it. I’m just glad the memories are still so vivid.
Yes – MSA was by far the best! I worked there from 1983 to 1997 – my first real job. The end truely was the GEAC switch! I had no idea other companies were not like this and now appreciate my “up bringing” and attribute much of my current success to working for a company that expected and enabled you to excel and drive and do! Of course the lawn beer parties, Winner Cicles trips, user conferences, etc were way fun!
The day I started with the company I was handed my silver pin and a peice of paper titled “Meet the Tiger” dated 1973 (yes, 10 years before I stared with the company!) and was told “this is what we are about”. I have this paper still…framed in my office! I read it often and share it with others. Anyone else still have this?
I started with MSA in the mail room of the Southern Region working for Jeff Fisher. I think that was 1979. I met a lot of great people during my time at MSA, Rick Page, Ferrall Summerell, Mike Anthony, Herbie Eason, Al Bennett, Tom McClure, & Ralph Roberts to name a few.
I will never forget when I was going to transfer to the print shop so I could make more $ and work overtime, and Ferrall took me aside and convinced me to take a lesser paying job, but had a future, working in the data center. That decision was probably the most important career decision I ever made. Had it not be for Ferrall’s influence and Al Bennett taking a chance by hiring me, I have no idea what I would be doing today. Thanks to them, I have had a successful career in IT. I just celebrated my 10 year anniversary with IBM.
Boy things have changed. No company I have ever worked for was quite like MSA. Work hard play hard. Remember the Kick Off Dinners at the Fox and softball games behind Phipps! John Imaly was quite the leader.
Rick,
I only recall meeting you once in your MSA days, but you made an impression on me. Being chosen as the internal sales training lead for MSA was a heck of an honor.
CAM
Greetings all former MSAers! I met so many nice people at MSA. I just wanted to say hello and merci for all the help I received thru the years.
Greetings to all…so many familiar names here! My memories and feelings about the “good old days” of MSA are no different than most. There’s just not enough good I can say about my experiences. I was there from 1981 until 2007, when Infor finally gobbled up the remains and showed me the door – 26 years in all. Most definitely, MSA in the 80’s was a diamond among all employers. Having only a high school education, I was able to learn more there and advance my working experience as probably no college education could have provided. Starting in accounting, as a low-level payroll clerk, I was so very fortunate to have managers who believed in me, and were immensely responsible for so much of my longevity and success. By the end of my tenure – in our internal Human Resources dept. – I was able to attain tremendous respect and trust as our E-series payroll “expert”, though I seriously question such accolades.
And yes, the MOST long-lasting and appreciative aspects of my MSA days are the very many good friends made, friendships to always cherish and remember. Not the least of which was the personal interest John Imlay was able to convey to everyone – from board leaders to the letter shufflers in the mail room. Truly THE class act of humanity. In a time of personal crisis in my life back then, John was instrumental in raising several thousands of dollars in assistance to my family, through employee (and company matching) contributions. That alone would be enough to inspire loyalty to any company, not to mention the MANY personal touches that were afforded everyone who worked there.
A once-in-a-lifetime working experience that, unfortunately, doesn’t seem to exist anymore in the business world today. Many memories and so many thanks.
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Greetings to the MSA/D&B people.
I worked in the Dallas office from 1987 to 1994, when I left to start my own company. I worked at a Utility Company before and MSA was a huge shock. I remember the first day, I arrived before 8:00 and the front door was locked and the lights were off. I thought the company had gone out of business. Bob Ataras was the first one to arrive and let me in… he said “most people wander in around 8:30 to 9:00.” That said, most people really did work hard. I really enjoyed working there, even though I had been told it would be about 50% travel which quickly turned into 100%. Not long after I started, they sent me to LCRA in Austin and I stayed for several years.
I enjoyed the reward trips to Hilton Head and Key West… and of course the trips to Atlanta.
It was a great time, and I still tell many stories!
Hei hei hei who remembers me?
I worked at MSA from 1977 to 1984 in the Northeast region.
Absolutely the best place to work.
Peon from 1977 til 1982 when I became manager of the installation group in the Northeast.
Those were the days!
those were indeed the day when they wined and dined you down at Hilton Head (they even paid for my baby sitter!)if you made member of the King’s court!
Imlay, House, Vohs, John Arnold, Joe Kassar, Bob Abate, Jerry Motte, Tom Bukowski from Canada, ,,, too many to mention and all good guys and gals.
I had the pleasure of being with MSA from 1980 to 1988, and just as so many of you have already stated, it was by far the best company I have ever worked for. The slogan ‘People are the key’ had quite an impact on all of us. It certainly made me feel that I was a big part of the success of the company – when it was successful. I agree with Rick Page that when we went public, it was the downfall of a great company. It seemed that we lost the focus at that point. It wasn’t our greed driving us, it was the stockholders greed.
Spending about 2 years at the Southern Region with Jeff Fisher and Ferrall Summerell was the best. Mostly, I was out of my plush office onsite in client land assisting the clients with the installs. This was a great unforgettable experience. I could always count on an interesting trip. Every trip to the client was different and usually an entertaining excursion, nothing was usual. Texas to Virginia, South America, Central America, and the Caribbean was our region. GL, HR, AP, AR, FA, and the infamous Financial Forecasting and Modeling were the reasons we went on these trips.
I remember one trip to Mexico City I will never forget. It was about 1982 and the financial transaction for the software had not been made, so I packed up the software and set it aside. Bill Graves was to call me when the software was paid for and off to the airport I would go. I arrived at Mexico city late in the evening, and checked in at the hotel. About 1:30am, my bed started to shake. I thought I hit some of the switches by the bed in my sleep, so I turned on the lights. The bed was still shaking and I peered into the closet where I had left the door open. My clothes were swinging back and forth! I opened the curtains on my 14th floor room, and I saw big pieces of the buildings across the street falling! People were screaming! It was an earthquake! 6.9 Richter. I survived by standing in the doorway, it all subsided completely in about an hour. There was not much damage to my hotel. When I met the client the next morning, of course everything was in disarray. We wondered if we could finish installing 4 products in the allotted time. I was ready to pull the plug for this week, but the client promised that there would be no more earthquakes. Why did I believe him?
And the parties! I remember on the 2nd floor after 4 o’clock, the education center was having the cocktail hour, and everyone was invited to come by and say hi to the clients who were there for a class. And Interact! The party on steroids with entertainment provided by John Imlay and crew. Unbelievable! Oh, and I’ll never forget the kickoff parties, at the Fox and other great venues. So John Imlay and crew would take this gig on a roadshow around the world! I would like to hear stories about that. But let’s not forget those summer days at Big Canoe, sipping drinks standing in the pool after a hard days brainstorming.
My days at Corporate were not that much different. Work hard, party hard. Late nights, early days, it was all fun (that sounds somewhat sick). Assigned to the Product Packaging Group gave me exposure to a great bunch of technical folks in all the product groups. My contacts in the regions expanded. The ISP utilities and development utilities became my reason for being there and it was great. I remember partying on the lawn and here comes a jeep with John Imlay dressed as a general AKA Patton style. The videos like the ‘Packaging Zone’ are still in my library!
I could go on and on about how great it was, but this is getting too long already. I really just wanted to say hi to all my old friends and reminisce a bit.