Sandra Kurtzig

Early life

Sandra Kurtzig was born in Chicago on October 21, 1947. Kurtzig earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics from University of California, Los Angeles in 1968, and a master's degree in aeronautical engineering at Stanford University.

Contract programming

In 1972, she left her job selling computer time-sharing for General Electric and devoted more of her time to starting a family. She founded ASK Group as a part-time job, using "a $2,000 commission check from GE;" the $2,000 was needed to rent a time-sharing terminal. Kurtzig launched ASK as a small, part-time contract software-programming business out of her second bedroom "to keep her mind occupied" and increase her income, never intending the business to operate outside her house. She was asked by her first client, Halcyon, to create an inventory-tracking program that could efficiently provide manufacturing information. Realizing that other manufacturers might find such a program useful, she recruited several graduates with degrees in engineering and computers. Under her direction they wrote standardized applications that addressed problems faced by local manufacturers.

ERP

ASK Computer Systems

Kurtzig reinvested all profits into growing the company. Her company required access to minicomputers and she persuaded employees at a nearby Hewlett-Packard plant to allow her company to use one of the company's HP 3000 minicomputers outside of normal working hours. By 1978, ASK released a package of programs called Manman, one of the first enterprise resource planning (ERP) software suites. She later concluded a deal for Hewlett Packard to sell Manman for use on HP-3000 minicomputers, at a time when most ERP software was only available to run on more expensive mainframe computers. The company went public on NASDAQ in 1981, and in 1983, Kurtzig's personal stake in the ASK Group was worth $67 million. She resigned from her role of CEO of the ASK Group in 1985. Kurtzig attributed her declining interest in the business to family pressures, along with other factors.

Divorced from her husband, Kurtzig devoted more time to raising her two sons, who were aged 12 and 9 at the time. In the meantime, Kurtzig had spent her time traveling, writing her autobiography, and investing in other technology companies, but this proved to be unfulfilling.

She returned in 1989 to refocus and once again grow the company. Kurtzig began to revamp the way her old company had been run, shifting organization and priorities to new products. She changed such minor but important details as the quality of the food and beer at the company's Friday evening celebrations in an effort to reconnect upper-level management with the company's employees. As part of this effort, Kurtzig instituted 360-degree reviews (where employees review bosses).

At its peak, in 1992 the company's annual sales were approximately $430 Million U.S. dollars.