As one of the only remaining channel executives who has been with his company since its inception, the MicroAge Inc. chairman and chief executive has survived more company challenges and industry trends than most industry followers could even name.

Aside from building his Tempe, Ariz., company from scratch into a $4 billion powerhouse, McKeever saw it through a Chapter 11 reorganization, took it public and reinvented the business countless times while remaining in the same position for more than 20 years.

McKeever and Intelligent Electronics Inc. Chairman Richard Sanford are two of the industry veterans who have remained as heads of their companies all these years. But now, only McKeever remains. And he's alive and kicking, using his knowledge and experience to steer MicroAge into a new era in the channel.

Mark McKeever recalls his father driving him to school one morning in 1981 while MicroAge was undergoing a Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization. The older McKeever tried to explain the process to his son and assured him that things would work out. "The message was about how we don't know what's going to happen. But either way, don't worry; we'll get by,Ó Mark remembers.

McKeever may or may not recall that conversation with his son, who McKeever raised on his own following a divorce from his first wife. But 16 years later, McKeever continues to impart wisdom to the channel, the industry at large and anyone who is listening, with that same calm confidence that always makes people believe him.

McKeever rarely raises his voice or demands attention. "He's very comfortable and confident,Ó says MicroAge President Bob O'Malley. "Sometimes he's a listener, sometimes he's a teacher. He's been able to master a number of roles.Ó

He may not be as dominating as Chip Lacy when he ran Ingram Micro Inc., and he certainly is not as controversial as Sanford, who built and then sold Exton, Pa.-based IE, but McKeever has endured.

Why?

"I've always thought Jeff and MicroAge had a very good sense of where the business is going,Ó says Martin Wolf, president of Martin Wolf Associates, Alamo, Calif., and a longtime channel observer. "He's much more of a strategic thinker than some people think. You can't separate the man from the company.Ó

"I think he's one of the best long-term thinkers in the business,Ó says Robert Anastasi, managing director of The Robinson-Humphrey Co. Inc., Atlanta. "They've reinvented the company a couple of times, and he's been able to drive the change.Ó

Meanwhile, Barbara Baker, McKeever's executive assistant for nine years, constantly returns to the word "balancedÓ to describe her boss. "It's remarkable considering how large the company has grown that he's still been able to be the leader,Ó Baker says. "He seems to be a step ahead. He is so balanced.Ó

But the McKeever story, so closely entwined with MicroAge's history, has had valleys along with its peaks.

Growing up, McKeever saw himself first as a mechanical engineer and later, getting involved in marketing. But while taking an accounting course in college, he realized he had a knack for numbers. "I would go through the semester and do no homework. I was working full-time, so a fraternity brother did the homework and I copied it,Ó McKeever remembers. "But then I'd sit with him preparing for the final, and within an hour I was explaining it to him.Ó

Don't take that as a sign of cockiness, though. In fact, McKeever is just as comfortable when people don't know of his success as when they do. Gary Marcus, president of reseller Computer Mechanic, recalls going on a vendor tour to Asia and spending time with McKeever only knowing him as "JeffÓ who worked for MicroAge. It wasn't until the end of the trip that Marcus found out he had spent his trip with MicroAge's leader.

One of McKeever's first setbacks occurred right after college. After graduating at the top of his Air Force ROTC class, McKeever was disappointed to learn that his eyes would prevent him from becoming a pilot. So, always fascinated by technology, he became involved in computers and ran a computer center for the Air Force while spending three years in Japan. Those years taught him some lessons. "It changed my view of what the truth is,Ó McKeever says. "In anything in life, there are multiple ways of doing things.Ó

He has carried that lesson throughout his career. "I try to give people a problem and let them go about doing it, and be available if they want help.Ó

When back in the United States, McKeever worked at a bank, met Alan Hald and in 1976 the two founded MicroAge as The Phoenix Group. Less than five years later, the company hit hard times and filed for Chapter 11 reorganization in December 1981.

"We were paying 26 percent interest and our franchisees weren't paying us,Ó McKeever says. Regardless, McKeever did not forget the people who helped MicroAge.

Darshan Khalsa, currently service integration director for MicroAge, who has been with the company for 21 years, recalls meetings in a parking lot to collect paychecks.

"Jeff found a way to get us the paychecks,Ó Khalsa says. "It was a pretty tough period.Ó

But some say it was during that period that McKeever really gained an appreciation for his employees, partners and customers.

"He's always been very good at building relationships with people,Ó says Mark McKeever who, at 29, works at MicroAge as director of display strategy.

McKeever's ability to forge and keep relationships was strong enough for MicroAge to be able to add new franchisees even during its dark financial days.

The company emerged from Chapter 11 in October 1982, grew to $142 million by 1985 and completed an initial public offering in 1987, raising nearly $11 million.

But McKeever says his toughest decision came in 1989, when MicroAge eliminated franchisee royalty fees. He realized, by losing that revenue, MicroAge would have to grow 50 percent to remain profitable. McKeever led the company to a 71 percent growth rate, thanks partly to its VAR program.

"To take away half of your gross margin is a very difficult decision. But if we hadn't made it, we would have ended up like ComputerLand or Entre,Ó McKeever says of the organizations that ultimately were unable to succeed on their own.

MicroAge had another hurdle to climb when open sourcing hit in the 1990s. "We knew it was going to happen, but you can only do so much preparation,Ó he says.

MicroAge was hurt, took a quarterly loss and had to lay off some employees. For the 1995 fiscal year, MicroAge earned $241,000 on $2.9 billion in sales. But McKeever rallied his company. So when other competitors-- notably Ingram Micro, Santa Ana, Calif., and IE--cut prices to increase sales, MicroAge created MicroAge Infosystems Services. MIS partnered MicroAge with its key resellers to serve large accounts.

MicroAge is now taking advantage of that model as it increases its company-owned locations by buying many of those resellers.

And no one can argue with MicroAge's recent financial results. For the first nine months of its 1997 fiscal year, it earned $17- million on nearly $3 billion in sales.

Some may say MicroAge's move to become more company-owned is only following the lead of Inacom Corp., Omaha, Neb. And McKeever is still criticized for trying to make MicroAge both a distributor and an integrator.

But McKeever says each part of MicroAge's business helps the other. He believes the company is well-positioned for the future, after spending years investing in electronic commerce and channel assembly.

He doesn't use fancy words. He isn't loud. But he is convincing. And he was right 16 years ago. Things have worked out.