Whose Idea Was The $1 Million Bonus Anyway?

Just who proposed the $1 million bonus for former Comptia President and Chief Executive John Venator remains shrouded in secrecy. One individual who may know some of the answers is Mark Romanowski, a former Comptia board member, but he is not saying much about the controversial payout.

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As part of our investigation regarding Comptia's decision to reward Venator with the $1 million bonus, we wanted to talk to Romanowski, now executive vice president of Manhattan-based ASI System Integration. Our editorial staff placed several phone calls and emails to Romanowski asking for a response to Venator's recollection that it might have been Romanowski who initially proposed the $1 million bonus when he served on Comptia's board several years ago.

Romanowski was elected to the board for 2005 and 2006, according to Comptia, when Gary Gillam, Xerox Corp.'s channel chief, served as association chairman.

When Romanowski did not return our calls or respond to our emails, I decided to pay a visit to his offices in search of some answers. I waited outside the exit of ASI's office in midtown Manhattan on May 7 to catch Romanowski as a stream of New Yorkers made their way home in the evening commute.

As 6 p.m. approached, I began to worry that Romanowski might have slipped past me (I was armed only with a photo from ASI's Web site that I had printed out) or that he might have driven away in a car from an adjacent parking garage. It was clear a different tactic was in order or I could wait all night in vain for man that had already left the building.

After entering the building where ASI is headquartered, I approached the touch screen that identifies its occupants when suddenly a voice called from across the hall, "Can I help you?"

"I'm looking for ASI," I said to a security guard through a window.

"Fourth floor," he said.

"Thanks. This way?" I pointed toward the elevator.

He nodded his approval."

The elevator door opened and ASI's office loomed straight ahead, but it was dark behind the glass-walled entrance and my heart, which had been increasingly racing faster, began to sink.

Behind the glass, I noticed a man and a woman were gathering their belongings. I got the attention of the man, who came to the door.

"I'm looking for Mark Romanowski," I said.

"Is Mark still here," the man asked the woman.

"I think so," she said, looking down a spiral staircase behind the glass wall. "Mark?"

"Marcus," yelled the man.

A distant voice on the third floor responded that Romanowski had just left in an elevator on the floor below.

Quickly, I joined the ASI group in the elevator to try to catch him.

"Is he expecting you?" asked the man, eying my white golf shirt, jeans, sport coat and baseball hat.

"Umm, no," I answered.

"Does that mean he's not going to want to talk to you," the man said jokingly.

"I don't know," I said, knowing that was probably a lie.

When the elevator opened on the ground floor, we exited quickly. The man rushed ahead to the front door of the building and yelled "Mark! Marcus!" down the street while waving Romanowski back.

I rushed out the door ahead of the group and caught up with Romanowski, who was still looking to see what his co-worker wanted.

"Mark. Hi, Scott Campbell from Everything Channel. I want to ask you a few questions."

"Hi, hi. Sure," he said.

I motioned him toward one side of the crowded rush-hour sidewalk to talk, but then his eyes opened bigger. "Wait. I know what you want to talk about," he said with a slight smile.

"Comptia. I want to ask you a few questions about Comptia," I asked.

"I know what you want to talk about. I can't comment. I'm sorry. The lawyers have said that we're legally bound to not comment. I got the messages, but that's why I didn't call back. I really can't comment. I'm sorry," he said smiling.

About that time, the rest of my elevator group had caught up to Romanowski and were listening intently.

I tried to make another inquiry about Venator's bonus but I got the same response and the group quickly walked away. It wasn't the detailed answer I was hoping for, but sometimes "no comment" is better than no comment at all.

For now, the mystery of who proposed the $1 million bonus remains exactly that.