Graduates find success beyond Naval Academy

By NOI MAHONEY, Business Writer

For many midshipmen, the course from Naval service to corporate glory and wealth starts in Annapolis.

While modern executives must know their way around a boardroom and a venture capital bid, many academy graduates say the time honored lessons of discipline, character and commitment taught to midshipmen made the key difference in their careers.

"The Naval Academy was, and remains, a critical influence in my life," said Mark Powell, Class of 1983 and chief executive of AlwaysOnline.net, a managed hosting firm, in Crofton. "The Academy instills a midshipman with self-confidence, it provides you with an ability to think creatively and it encourages rugged individualism. These are all valuable traits for an entrepreneur."

While no exact figures were available on the number of graduates who go on to be top corporate officers, local executives alone could number in the hundreds, according to the Naval Academy Alumni Association.

"When you take into account chairmen, CEOs, presidents and vice presidents of companies, as well as senior government officials, mayors and senators, you have a lot of Naval Academy graduates serving in leadership roles," said George Watt, Jr., president and chief operating officer of the Alumni Association.

After the 2002 class graduates Friday, there will be over 50,000 living Naval Academy graduates around the world.

Some of the notable academy graduates in business in Anne Arundel County include include Maurice Tose, Class of 1978 and president and founder of TeleCommunication Systems Inc., James L. Pierce, Class of 1958 and chairman of the Board of Directors for ARINC in Parole, and Admiral Fran Holian, vice president at Northrop Grumman's Oceanic Division.

But it's not just Annapolis where academy grads hold influential positions in commerce. In Northern Virginia, XO Communications is led by CEO Dan Akerson, Class of 1970, Corbin McNeill, Class of 1962, recently retired as chairman of Exeleon in Chicago, and Sam Marrone, Class of 1966, just took over global marketing for Centerprise Services in New York.

Nor is it just mids who graduate with the academy's renowned engineering degree who do well. Ken Keymer was recently named president of Noodles & Co. in Boulder Colorado after a career in the retail food business.

Mr. Holian said that whatever industry an academy graduate enters -- whether technology, defense, hospitality, etc., the lessons learned at school translate well.

"The Naval Academy throws a lot of pressure at its students," Mr. Holian said. Many alumni agree it wasn't the theories or studies taught in Annapolis that made it possible for them to succeed.

"The Naval Academy prepares you morally, mentally and physically to assume positions of leadership," said Class of 1968 member Joseph Conway, vice president at Annapolis-based AXS Technologies. "In today's world, being well grounded in the ethics and moral behaviors taught at the Academy is also critical. Your primary application is in the naval service, but this same preparation applies to the corporate environment," Mr. Conway said.

Part of that lesson is taught by example. Mids often hear from said heroes such as former POWs John McCain, James Stockdale and Dick Stratton, and are immersed in a culture of courage and heroism.

"When I went to the Naval Academy, we had a lot of speakers, like former POWs and war heroes from Vietnam," said D. Michael Abrashoff of Massachusetts, the author of "It's Your Ship: Management Techniques From the Best Damn Ship in the Navy,"

"As I listened to them I thought, "I hope when I am called upon I have the same courage as them."

In his book, Mr. Abrashoff details how he improved his own leadership skills to make his command of the destroyer USS Benfield more efficient.

He's says his tale of management change can be applied for anyone trying to navigate the business world. He will appear at 10 a.m. Tuesday at at the Naval Academy for a book signing.

"What I'm finding is that businesses crave people with military experience," Mr. Abrashoff said. "It is in supreme demand in the business world."

Mr. Powell said one of his strongest memories of the Naval Academy is from 1982, when he served as a company commander for plebe detail."There were over 120 plebes (Naval Academy freshman) under my leadership," Mr. Powell states. "Plebe detail at the Naval Academy is so important, it is a plebe's first glimpse of the Naval Academy. It taught me that effective leadership is by example."

Mr. Powell said the lesson also prepared him for running his business, AlwaysOnline.net.

"When you are in the business world, you represent your company at all times," Mr. Powell said.

But the curriculum can't be discounted, according to Class of 1968 member, Tom Pestorious, chief executive of H&P Inc. in Severna Park.

"I trained as a mechanical engineer and stayed in the Navy for 11 years," Mr. Pestorious said. "If you've ever been aboard ships, you know you're doing everything for real."

A nuclear consultant, he moved from the Navy through a congressional committee on energy and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

To keep producing good leaders on and off the battlefield, Mr. Abrashoff said the academy and the Navy will have to adapt to the times.

"The nature of our adversaries have changed, we have to be more entrepreneurial because who would have thought people would use planes as bombs," Mr. Abrashoff said. "No matter what field we go into after the military, you have to be more flexible and entrepreneurial. Every industry is changing."

nmahoney@capitalgazette.com .

Published May 19, 2002, The Capital , Annapolis, Md.
Copyright © 2002 The Capital , Annapolis, Md.