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Business
Sunday, March 11


Blazing her own trail in high
technology

By Amy Martinez, Palm Beach Post Staff
Writer
Sunday, March 11, 2001

PALM BEACH -- Executive recruiter Charles
Edwards had to be thinking, with more than a
hint of sarcasm, "That`s all?"

It was Aug. 22, 2000, and Applied Digital
Solutions of Palm Beach was describing the
qualities it wanted in a new president and chief
operating officer. Already 9 months old, Applied
Digital`s search had produced no viable
candidates.

But then, Applied Digital was asking for a lot: a
strategy-oriented, yet visionary and charismatic
leader who understood technology and had
senior management experience at a large telecommunications company.

Applied Digital (Nasdaq: ADSX), which did about $335 million in sales last
year, had grown by buying more than 60 high-tech companies in seven years,
but it was now looking to outside investors to break the billion-dollar threshold.
The new leader would need to simultaneously gain the confidence of Wall
Street and the various entrepreneurs who were the company`s lifeblood.

"I told them it would be a distinct challenge," recalled Edwards, of the
Stratford Group in Atlanta.

Two months later, Edwards found Mercedes Walton, a former executive with
AT&T who had just started her own consulting business. By Dec. 31, the
search was over. Walton was the one.

She had an ideal pedigree -- a bachelor`s degree in psychology from Smith
College, a master`s in education from Harvard University and a master`s of
science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology -- and impeccable
references from AT&T, where she held several senior executive positions,
including vice president of corporate strategy and business development.

That she is a black woman -- well, who knew? The high-tech world is
dominated by white men, and Walton`s appointment at Applied Digital made
her one of the highest-ranking black women in technology today.

Says Sonya Donaldson, technology editor for Black Enterprise magazine:
"You can count on one hand the number of women in positions of leadership,
and if you look at the number of African-American women, you`d be
hard-pressed to even (have to) count."

If Walton succeeds in making Applied Digital a billion-dollar company, she
could become high tech`s most powerful black woman.

That opportunity is why she gave up the independence of running her own
business at home in Mendham, N.J., to work 12- to 14-hour days at Applied
Digital`s corporate offices on Royal Palm Way. She is the only black person
among a staff of 25; she`s the leader of 1,700 employees worldwide.

"It`s really incredibly exciting to me. I am most definitely blazing trails,"
Walton said recently during a leisurely lunch at the Brazilian Court in Palm
Beach -- a rare treat for someone who usually eats fruit salads at her desk.

"I was able to advance as far as I could in a corporate environment, and I was
quite successful on multiple dimensions," she said. "But for me, I`ve been on
a mission my entire life to make a difference . . . for women and people of
color. . . . The statement I`d like to make is it can be done."

A dynamic personality

Richard Sullivan, Applied Digital`s founder, chairman and chief executive
officer, said he didn`t intend to make a statement by hiring Walton. He simply
liked her leadership experience and dynamic personality.

"We were shocked that we really had the opportunity to capture her," Sullivan
said. "To get a real rainmaker is hard because everybody`s fighting for the
same person, and we weren`t the only company looking at her."

He added: "Business is about performance. It`s not about whether you`re
black or white."

But more than 20 years in corporate America taught Walton that race and
gender do matter when it comes to reaching the very top. She refers to it as
the "cement wall."

Walton, who grew up in the Bronx in a working-class family, started her
career at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida in Jacksonville, but she
struggled to make a name and left after a year. In 1976, she was recruited by
Southern Bell, which was trying to hire more minorities, and entered its
management development program for future CEOs.

She was intense even as a child, skipping the eighth grade and finishing high
school early so she could get on with her life. She stopped working only once,
for three months to have a baby, and earned one promotion after another. Her
resume has none of the red flags that plague others with less direction or
ambition.

"I`ve always been focused on moving to another orbit," she said. "I believe that
as part of my mission in this lifetime I`m intended to achieve some
extraordinary things."

Warren Josephson, an attorney for AT&T who worked with Walton on new
business opportunities until her resignation in March 2000, describes her as
smart, creative and extremely hard-working, adding he frequently received
e-mails from her at 3 or 4 a.m.

Recognized for leadership

One of their last projects together involved a new technology developed by
AT&T, called A2B, that makes it possible to download music from the
Internet. The project "petered out" as a business endeavor, Josephson said,
but Walton impressed everyone as a quick study.

"She spent a lot of time working with the leading players in the music industry
and very quickly established herself as an important point of contact in that
industry," he said.

Walton, 47, spoke often about the need for more blacks in top
decision-making positions at AT&T, and in 1999 she won the Rosa Parks
National Courageous Leadership Award.

Did she fit into AT&T`s corporate culture? "I`m not even going to go near that
one," Josephson remarked.

Walton says she relishes her role at Applied Digital because she`ll be judged
solely on her merits. Either she increases shareholder value or she doesn`t.

"There`s no subjectivity about bottom line earnings," she said. "I always
wanted to be in a job where my performance would be judged on an objective
scale of value creation."

Walton wasn`t looking for a job when Edwards, the recruiter, called in
October. She referred him to a potential candidate and didn`t hear back until a
week later, when he called again, this time to thank her. The weather in New
Jersey was cold and rainy, and Walton joked, "If you had first contacted me
on a day like today, I might have put my name in the hat."

Edwards replied, "Mercedes, it`s not nice to tease," and he began to tell her
about Applied Digital. A few weeks later, Walton met in Boston with the
company`s search committee. She visited Palm Beach shortly thereafter with
her 15-year-old daughter, Nathalie, and husband, Luico Hopper, a jazz
musician.

"We fell in love at first sight," Walton said.

For now, she is living at the Chesterfield Hotel, two blocks from her office and
house-hunting as far north as Jupiter. Daughter Nathalie will attend boarding
school in the Northeast next fall.

She marvels at the high cost of housing in Palm Beach County, but that likely
is more an indication of her down-to-earth nature than the size of her
compensation package.

Neither Walton nor Sullivan would disclose her pay until it is reported to the
Securities and Exchange Commission along with the company`s annual filing.
All Sullivan would say is, "She`s very well compensated."

Walton replaces 66-year-old Garrett Sullivan, who remains one of the
company`s largest shareholders and is vice chairman of its board of directors.
Richard Sullivan, who is not related, plans for Walton to eventually take his
place as CEO.

Walton has spent much of her first two months at Applied Digital courting
potential investors and partners to help with marketing, manufacturing and
distributing products worldwide.

Future tied to Digital Angel

The company`s future hangs on Digital Angel, a new, controversial technology
that has gained attention across the country, most recently in The New York
Times. It can be worn as a bracelet or watch and allows doctors to monitor a
patient`s heartbeat, glucose level and blood pressure throughout the day using
Internet technology.

Critics say it raises privacy concerns for likely users such as Alzheimer`s
patients or people with mental illness. Walton says it`s designed to do good.

"It`s not invasive technology. It`s technology that`s there to intervene in positive
ways," she said.

Outside of work, look for Walton to be a mentor to local school children and to
support technology education programs.

Walton`s dad was a New York City firefighter and her mom was a public
school teacher`s aide. Both encouraged her to get an Ivy League education,
even when her high school guidance counselor suggested the best she could
do was attend community college.

She hopes to inspire children in poor and working-class neighborhoods to set
big goals.

"I would like to go to classrooms to talk to students, tell my story and
perhaps inspire," she said. "Here is a normal girl from the Bronx who had a
dream and the family support that enabled her to break new ground."

amy_martinez@pbpost.com
 
aus der Diskussion: ADSX Thread Nr. 23
Autor (Datum des Eintrages): erik der große  (12.03.01 09:34:34)
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