Industry Hall Of Fame Introduction

Paul Allen Programming Pioneer

Tim Berners-Lee Developer Of The World Wide Web

Dan Bricklin Creator Of The Electronic Spreadsheet

Vint Cerf The Father Of The Internet

Ross Cooley Compaq's Channel Champion

Larry Ellison Database Dynamo

Bronson Ingram King Of Global Distribution Empire

Charles Wang Software Mangement Mogul

John Warnock Wizard Of Type

Steve Wozniak Apple's Engineering Genius

Development Teams Introduction

The Compaq Portable

The Intel 386SX

Lotus 1-2-3

Microsoft Windows

"They ought to put Ross on assignment in the Middle East," said Tech Data Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Steve Raymund. "He has a better chance at brokering peace there than anyone I can think of. He was given an unusual amount of leeway in making changes, and that made Compaq extraordinarily agile in his day," Raymund said. "He would listen to input and always incorporate the new information into [Compaq's] programs and direction. His influence was probably greater than most people in a similar position."

But even though Cooley departed Compaq two years ago, he has yet another opportunity to make a mark on the industry.

And that is perhaps the most impressive aspect to his career: He may end up being remembered more for his work at pcOrder.com than for all his achievements at Compaq.

That is not to diminish his Compaq career. But for all his efforts and successes at Compaq, relations between the vendor and the channel have been on the fence recently, not long after Cooley's departure. And after beginning its existence as a channel nemesis, pcOrder now has embraced the channel and is on its way to completing an initial public offering, only two years after Cooley joined the electronic-commerce company as chairman and chief executive.

Cooley's role with pcOrder is just getting started. Now with the major distributors embracing pcOrder's technology, the mark Cooley and pcOrder may end up leaving on the industry could be profound. Cooley himself believes by successfully implementing its strategy, pcOrder can help bring about the desired results in the ongoing supply chain re-engineering.

First at Compaq, now at pcOrder, Cooley has been one of the driving forces for success and for the evolution of the reseller channel.

Maybe "Ross the Boss"--as one analyst called him--is the channel's most fervent supporter within the vendor community. But he also has an uncanny knack for not just voicing his opinions, but getting something done about them.

"He seemed to wield some influence and was a great listener. He was able to modify the direction of a ship," said CompuCom Systems Inc. Chief Executive and President Ed Anderson.

The reason for this rare vendor-channel relationship, executives said, is trust. Cooley's personality and style quickly convey a feeling of trust and comfort, even in an initial meeting.

Perhaps Cooley's style and appreciation for the channel can be traced back to the early days of his career when he was supposed to take over his father's service station business in Binghamton, a town in central New York state.

Cooley had worked at one of his father's gas stations as a teenager and joined the Navy after high school, with plans to return to the family business after seeing the world. But the Navy extended his stay and Cooley needed to attend college in order to get out on time. After graduating from Broome Community College, Atlantic Richfield Co. (ARCO), the oil company that served the Cooley family business, asked Cooley to become a dealer sales rep.

From an oil man working with gas stations, to a PC salesman working with resellers, the underlying issues are all the same. "The thing I learned at ARCO, and was reinforced at Compaq, is dealers are motivated by margin opportunity.

You have to find a way by which you enhance their business, or results," Cooley said.

In 1965, Cooley joined IBM Corp. and in 1978 took charge of the Virginia territory. He stayed in Virginia until 1981, and the introduction of the PC, and then moved to Philadelphia and worked in the education arena.

But Cooley was worried he would never get out of that niche and, with some former colleagues moving to Compaq in early 1984, he decided to make the move as well.

In his first role, Cooley's goal was to sign up as many ComputerLand dealers as possible east of the Mississippi. But a month after he started, IBM launched its first portable PC and suddenly Cooley's $8.06 per share Compaq options were worth just $3.50 per share.

After a major company meeting, Cooley's assignment was to move 3,500 Deskpros in the third quarter of 1984 and while he came up 400 short of the goal, Compaq internally had only really been expecting him to sell 2,500. Cooley was asked to move to Compaq's Houston headquarters.

He was promoted to vice president of sales in 1987 and then vice president of sales and service in 1988 before Compaq hit another dry spell in 1991, resulting in the ouster of company founder Rod Canion. With new President and Chief Executive Eckhard Pfeiffer, Compaq began to make the necessary moves to return to strong growth and profitability. And with Cooley now running the North American PC operations, Compaq took off.

"The part Ross ran became one of the stars for Compaq," said Doug Johns, who ran Compaq's entire PC business at the time and is currently chairman and chief executive of Monorail Computer Corp., Atlanta. "He built up a strong reputation for trust and being loyal to the dealer. When there was an opportunity to do things that the dealer didn't like, he would be a strong advocate inside the corporation to keep Compaq much more dealer-friendly."

But by 1996, with his success at Compaq resulting in a healthy bank account, other longtime Compaq executives moving on and a desire to slow down his pace, Cooley began to consider retirement. One of his final assignments at Compaq was to lead the project to re-engineer its distribution strategy, which is how he first came in contact with pcOrder and Christina Jones, its president and chief operating officer.

Once Cooley came on board, it seemed many vendors were suddenly interested in meeting with pcOrder, if not for any other reason than a chance to talk with Cooley, Jones said.

PcOrder was not only in the door, but with a simplified message and channel-friendly approach, it was on its way toward new partnerships.

"We were sorry to lose him from Compaq," said Jeffrey McKeever, chairman and chief executive of MicroAge Inc., one of the few companies to sign a deal with pcOrder before Cooley joined the company. "But when he went to pcOrder, that helped a lot. He changed their business plan. Their plan was to be more intrusive between the channel and our customers. He changed that so we can work in harmony now."

Maybe Cooley should consider that trip to the Middle East after all.