June – Milestone
Byron Wertz of TDS is being recognized this month as our Milestone Client! Byron joined Telephone and Data Systems in 1979 and in 1987 was appointed Director of Corporate Development. Today he serves as the Vice President of Corporate Development. OffiCenters is proud to have Byron office with us at our International Plaza location! Read his answers to our questionnaire to find out more about him!
1) What would you like people to know about you and your business? Our family company was started by my 97 year young Uncle, who was of the opinion that all Americans, even if they lived in rural areas, should be entitled to the same level of telecommunications service, as did those that, lived in metropolitan areas. The business expanded so fast that Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. went public and is traded on the New York Stock exchange under TDS. My Uncle wanted to protect the family, so it always maintained control, and the “differential voting” structure, has permitted the family to control this publicly traded company today, a feat which is quite unusual.
2) Where did you get the idea for your business? My Uncle got the idea for the business in 1949, when the Rural Electrification Administration permitted telephone pioneers financial support to those who wanted to bring service to rural areas of America, where it was otherwise economically unfeasible.
3) What makes your business unique? What makes our business unique is that people always appreciate our desire and willingness to bring telecommunications services to their area, no matter how rural the area might be. An example might be that we provide service to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, at the far west end on the Supai Indian Reservation.
4) What is your ‘elevator speech’? My elevator speech is that I have the good fortune of being a part of a family telecommunications company that my Uncle started. He was a futurist and believed that when faced with a choice of having a phone with a wire and one that was wire-less, that people would prefer no wire. Today the company employs 11,000 people, and provides 5 million people telephone or cellular service, throughout the country.
5) What are the keys to your success? The keys to my success are to show up early, ready to go to work, and to do what needs to be done, no matter what or how long it takes. I have driven all night to meet a deadline that everyone said could not be done.
6) What is the one piece of advice you’d like to give to others about running a business? I would suggest to others that they decide early how badly they are willing to “pay the price” and then make the decision insofar as whether they are up to it. Many offer little and get little and are perfectly satisfied. My expectations are high; I am willing to do whatever it takes to win and achieve the objective I have set my mind to achieve.
7) How long have you been at OffiCenters? Which location? I have been at OffiCenters in Bloomington and its predecessor company for 13 years. I was here before any of the suites were carved up, and had my choice of size and shape.
8) How has your relationship with OffiCenters changed your business? OffiCenters has permitted me to have an office here, even though the corporate offices of the company are in Chicago, IL. I like the private, professional setting that enables me to do what needs to be done. The staff has always gone out of their way to assist me in any way they can.
9) If you could work from anywhere under the sun, where would you choose? Anywhere and everywhere. My office is where I am, with my laptop, iPad and cellular phone. I enjoy my dedicated OffiCenters space while in the Twin Cities, just as much as I do my dedicated office space at my home in Scottsdale, AZ, (but only in the summer for the Twin Cities – you will not find me here in the winter).
10) Tweet, Blog, LinkedIn, Facebook? Our company does them all, LinkedIn is enough for me.
11) What piece of technology can you not live without? The three pieces of technology I could not do without would be my super high speed computer, iPad and Smart Phone.
12) What is one of your favorite quotes? Henry Ford said “If you think can or you can’t, you are right.”
13) Who has been an inspiration in your life? My Father, a Fulbright Scholar and a Guggenheim Fellow in the field of Physical Chemistry taught me the value of education and how to appreciate travel. My Uncle Le Roy taught me the value of business, of “being at it” in everything I did, and to know that “nothing moves by itself.” When he was 97 years of age, I made the mistake of asking him when he started thinking of himself as old. He snorted back, “I have never considered myself old.” The third person in my life was Gordon Rice who I worked for at the Ford Motor Company. Gordon started with Ford in 1923 as a clerk-typist, and ended up staying for 45 years. For thirty of those years he was the Administrative Assistant to the Chairman of the Board. I worked for him in 1969, just before he retired. His most famous saying to me was that I had “been hired to manage, so go ahead and manage.”
14) When you have 30 minutes of free time, how do you use it? If I had an extra 30 minutes I would read anything I could find. I love to read and learn. I actually carry extra reading material with me all of the time, just in case that 30 minutes shows up.
15) If you had a long weekend with unlimited funds, where would you go? I would either go on another game hunt in South Africa or I would go to that Amalfi Coast of Italy and stay at the Santa Catarina Hotel, a hotel that hugs the cliffs above the Mediterranean.
16) If you could be any fictional character, whom would you choose and why? I never got into fiction. I like the “REAL” world.
17) What is your favorite restaurant in Minnesota? My favorite is the Grill at the St. Paul Hotel.
18) What songs are included on the soundtrack to your life? Far too many to list, but… “Go Where You Want To Go, Do What You Want To Do” by The Mamas & the Papas probably says it best.
19) If you could paint a picture what would you paint and why? I would paint a parking lot of cars from the 1930’s, because cars are my passion, and the decade of the 1930’s was most spectacular.
20) What is the best way for people to find out more about you and your business? Come talk to me. I usually leave my door unlocked. I travel extensively as the VP of Mergers and Acquisitions for Telephone and Data Systems, but if I am in the office you are most welcome. If cars are your passion, (as opposed to Bach or Beethoven), I may ask you to stay longer, or show you pictures of my dozen collector cars! One additional point is, that I drove my 1924 Model T Ford, (which I have owned for 45 years) from New York to Seattle on both the 75th Anniversary and the 100th Anniversary of the Model T Ford. This feat was not accomplished by anyone driving their same car twice.
