20 Questions with Don Willis

Fort Wayne, Fort Wayne Direct Publication
July/August 2004

Reprinted

Donald R. Willis, in his own words, likes to "poke bears." Now - before you envision Willis venturing into caves looking for grizzlies, the "bears" he's referring to are people with talent and money who should be encouraged to do more in our community.

A Princeton native, Willis began his career as a computer systems research scientist with a military contractor. In 1966, Magnavox Electronics Systems Company lured Willis to Fort Wayne where his worked as an engineer for 22 years. After Magnavox, Willis ventured out on his own to form Command Systems, Inc. which specialized in defense industry command and control software. Thirteen years later Willis sold the company to defense contractor General Dynamics for nearly $100-million.

Unlike the "bears" he refers to Willis needs no prodding to put his skills and resources to productive use. Instead of retiring to some warmer climate - something he could easily do - Willis dove into a number of major projects. He is chairman of FourthWave, LLC, a holding company for subsidiaries SentryPoints, which develops software for homeland security; MetroMetrics, which writes project management software for local governments; and VersiTech, which creates risk analysis and safety management software for colleges and universities. Another project called the adventure Fund has the ambitious goal of making Northeast Indiana a world-class location for entrepreneurs by among other things, developing new ways to finance business enterprises of all sizes.

As if that weren't enough, Willis is president of FourD Development, LLC, a technical partner to FourthWave, and he is president of the FourD Education Foundation which he envisions will develop better approaches to teaching our nation's students. As further evidence of his passion for and strong opinions about education, Willis created the Keystone Schools, which teach each student based on his or her ability rather than their age or grade level. Willis is also a strong believer in the value of the arts education in the classroom.

A husband and father of two, Willis and his wife, Doris, are currently in the midst of a major renovation project on a historic home in the Forest Park neighborhood.

Innovator. Visionary. Dynamic. Dangerous. All of these adjectives have been used to describe you. What adjectives would you use to describe yourself?

Instigator. I like to instigate things. I don't mean that in a bad way. I don't like lack of movement. I spoke today to a group of old codgers and I told them that I was a curmudgeon, but they finally decided that my bet description was that I "poke bears." There are a lot of people around Fort Wayne with a tremendous amount of talent and some of them have money. When I say I "poke bears," I mean I like to prod those people to do more.

What adjective would your friends and family use to describe you?

I think my family would agree that I tenacious and impatient.

What role does your family play in your busy life?

We're all trying to recover from growing a very significant business, in which my son, Devin, was a significant player. Devin, to large extent, is resting and he's redecorating his house. So, your see, it's in the blood (laughs). My daughter (Dacia Willis Michael) is running our foundation. My daughter-in-law (Brenda Willis) is running the financial aspects of the foundation and Keystone Schools. We've been working together on the foundation and the idea of getting a school started and helping to straighten out some of the education mess with some alternative teaching methods since before I sold the company (Command Systems, Inc.). The grandkids actually get involved preparing for Master Camp (a summer arts and education program), and they assemble some of the robotics stuff that goes into some of the classes. My wife is my personal keeper. She runs the scheduling and coordination of all the activities here. She is kind of the coordination liaison between me and our private interests and FourthWave.

Your companies include FourthWave and FourD Development, and you run the FourD Education Foundation. What is the significance of the number four?

People have started to write books about this "wave" out there - this societal change. The fourth wave is a change in management style. Having chosen an objective but your probability of success is going down, what should you do? Don't do what you've been doing anymore. That is the essence of my philosophy and the FourthWave style.

What excites you about the next wave?

Having a city that we can brag about all over the country. We can't do that right now. I looked at all the economic development plans out there locally. When I got done, I made an assessment of all that data on one view graph. It says the following: the good news is we're doing about what everybody else is doing. The bad news is we're doing about what everybody else is doing. We cannot be a "braggable" city like that.

What is it like to work for Don Willis?

We are always trying to have a sense of accomplishment. We don't have a lot of rules, but I do tell people who work for me that if they make a mistake to make sure that I hear it form them and not from someone else. The other rule is that they should never let me do something they know is wrong.

What do you say to the people who think that with your influence and money you want to take over Fort Wayne?

I don't worry much about stuff like that. I don't have any interest in taking over. It would suit my purposes fine if we had a whole bunch of activity running ahead of me and I could slow down. The only royal scheme that I'm working on is to set up for-profit companies that will enrich the economic base of Fort Wayne. In other words, no more Starbucks. We're talking about businesses that don't currently exist that will utilize trained, educated people. That is where the economy is shifting.

Would you ever consider running for public office?

There's one thing I don't ever want to do. I will never be in politics.

Why do you choose to stay in Fort Wayne?

Because Fort Wayne has been very, very good to our family. There is a tremendous number of good people here - a tremendous amount of talent. So I've chosen - for whatever criticism people would like to make - to believe that we have enough entrepreneurial spirit, enough educational institutions and enough technical knowledge among the people who live here to become the most desirable city in the country to come to and start a small business.

What confounds you?

It seems like it takes a long time for people to realize that they can figure things out before they get into too much trouble. If something's bumping into you it's not being corrected, change it!

You are described as an accomplished musician. What are your instruments? What kind of music do you like?

Piano and clarinet. And I'm a choral director. I'm stuck in elaborate, richly harmonized, complex pieces of classical music.

How much time do you have to pursue your interest in music?

Not much anymore. I've shifted to other ventures, but I grew up heavily involved in music, which I think is great.

How important is that artistic expression?

The artistic expression for me is performance. I've had many, many opportunities to perform. And I probably have some more. My wife Doris and I like to play music together, but we have a little side project right now that is rebuilding a house on Forest Park. We need something to keep us off the streets at night.

You could buy a home - a new home anywhere, but you've chosen to refurbish an older home. What does that say about you?

I'll tell you a story. I've got lots of stories. When Magnavox lured me up here, they brought me up here on an "executive weekend," where all the realtors drive around showing you houses. When we went back to the realtor's office on Sunday afternoon, we had not seen a house that we liked. We looked at something on the realtor's desk and I said, "We didn't see any houses like that one." The realtor said, "They've taken that listing out of the hands of realtors because no one could sell it." So, I went to look at the house and it is the home I still live in. I told the realtor that it was the only house we saw that I would feel safe rolling my grand piano across the living room floor. That home was built in the days when you had two by eights and two by twelves, and real hardwood. It felt right. It's unique. It has character.

Why are you moving from that house to the home you're currently renovating on Forest Park? Obviously you have some attachment to your current home?

Of course, I do. But interestingly enough, I actually looked at the Forest Park house when I came here in 1966. It wasn't on the market but the house across the street was. Frankly, I didn't think about it all those years because I just assumed somebody owned it and it wasn't about to go on the market. Then, when the auction for the house showed up, I thought, "Isn't that funny? That's the house I looked at when I came to Magnavox in November of '66.'

What drew you to that house to the point that you were still interested in it?

It is a house that is an exquisite example of the architect's work (Marshall S Mahurin). He's done a number on things in this area, including the Ball Family Mansion (in Muncie), and in some ways, the Forest Park home is very reminiscent of the Ball Mansion except that it doesn't have a carriage porch. So I can't drive my horses under the front door (laughs). I like old homes that are product of craftsmanship. That's why we bought the home we currently have. (The Forest Park house) has been run down. The neighborhood deserves better. So, we bought it. The neighborhood is a stately neighborhood, and the house needs to totally reflect that environment.

If you could travel into the future just to look around for awhile but you had to choose to go either one year, ten years, 100 years or 1,000 years into the future, which would you pick?

I would pick 100 years.

Why?

Because in 100 years, I'd like to see whether we will have solved some major challenges. We should be able to build on - demand cures for various illnesses. I also think we will have learned how to defy gravity.

In addition to economic development, education is a big concern for you. Why?

Here's what I know about education. It's not performing well. It is over-funded. Remember, I said over-funded. We need schools that will teach children where they are (mentally), not by how old they are.

What were you like as a student?

I was a trouble maker.