Truly Telluride Volume 33 : Page 4

 M ichael Armstrong PEOPLE No Limits by Susan Viebrock of Telluride Inside... and Out, read about all the zazz of Telluride at www.tellurideinside.com search the telluride phone book and you will find two men with the last name “armstrong.” one was the first man to walk on the moon (neil). the other (mike) was the first outsider to occupy the throne at ma bell, selected for the job at at&t following his successful launch of directv and a market turnaround at hughes electronics. at hughes, armstrong was the first chairman and ceo to come from outside the defense industry. like the other armstrong, part-time telluride local mike armstrong has touched the stars. Straight out of the gate, Mike Armstrong metabolized his “The good news is that my alma mater is in Oxford, Ohio, a lovely mother’s motto: “No limits.” As a young man, when his father town where Miami university defines life. The bad news is that started his own business after being laid off, he worked on the Miami is in Oxford, Ohio, where there is not much to do. Thus, docks of Detroit to help pay for tuition, attaining degrees in we were excited to be able to do the new student center.” business and economics. Armstrong never looked back. Well, Also at Miami university Mike and Anne established Armstrong maybe once. That was the time a 600 pound black bear Interactive Media studies (AIMS). The purpose of AIMS is decided to raid the refrigerator at the Armstrong’s Telluride digs. enabling digital technology to strengthen and expand the (It’s a long story, but it worked out in the end. Armstrong stayed transfer of knowledge. It is an interdisciplinary program with 37 put. The bear acquired a new forwarding address.) faculty and instructors offering 35 courses and labs in every In addition to positions at Hughes and AT&T, Armstrong is also university division. For example, an AIMS team is digitizing the retired Chairman and Director Emeritus of the Comcast manuscripts and tablets from ancient Tibet, a project Corporation. At IBM, beginning as a systems engineer, he rose sanctioned by the Dalai Lama, who honored the school with a through the ranks to become Chairman of the Board of the IBM visit in October. World Trade Corporation, retiring after 30 years. Outside of the field of education, the Armstrong’s opted to give Armstrong has also held several positions in the public sector. the poor and disadvantaged a leg up, investing in projects in He served President Clinton for eight years as Chairman of the Connecticut (A Better Chance), and in NYC (The Marine Corp President’s Export Council. He chaired the Homeland Security Scholarship Fund and The All Stars). In Guatemala, they are Committee, the Business Roundtable post 9-11 and is currently part of a group that brings basic infrastructure – fresh water, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and The medical clinics, schools, stoves and latrines – to people living in Conference Board, a global, independent business membership remote Mayan mountain villages. and research association. In Telluride, Mike Armstrong was an early member of the There is always some eager beaver waiting in the wings to knock Telluride Foundation, an organization of like-minded people a king off his pedestal. Armstrong is not without his detractors. united by a single goal; to create a stronger and better region The offset is a legion of friends and admirers, former Telluride through philanthropy. Armstrong was Chairman of the Telluride local and pop star Oprah Winfrey among them. Oprah Medical Capital Fund, a small group of Telluride Foundation famously said that if Armstrong were running for President, he members that raised over one million dollars for the Telluride would be one of the few people she has ever known for whom medical district. The story of how Armstrong became involved she would quit her day job and personally campaign. She has with the Foundation can be summed up in two words: Ron described Armstrong publicly as a leader with “guts, vision and Allred. the balls to back it up.” Add compassion to the list. It is Allred is the former owner of the ski mountain in the days the kindness, not Darwinian realities that floats Armstrong’s boat world was a kinder, gentler place and everything about Telluride today. was coming up roses. Allred identified the need for a Telluride “My wife Anne and I grew up in the city of Detroit. We now own Foundation to support regional non-profits dedicated to social several homes across the country and are truly grateful for all services and a robust cultural economy. that life has given us. When I hit my mid-60’s and faced In 1989, the Armstrongs and the Kuehlers (Jack Kuehler was a retirement after 43 years in corporate America, we both said: good friend from IBM) decided they wanted a place in the West. “Let’s give it all back.” After exploring the usual suspects, the foursome discovered Giving it all back meant establishing priorities. Telluride on a recommendation from a guy they met on a ski lift in Aspen. The site they found for their new home had it all: We concluded higher education, innovation, and giving privacy, wide open vistas, year round water, and a backdrop of disadvantaged people a better chance were three areas worth majestic mountains – and gravel. Lots of gravel. our investment of time and money.” The gravel pit where the Armstrongs wanted to build was eight Armstrong became Vice Chair of Johns Hopkins university and stories deep. Their initial offer to Allred was accepted until Chair of the School of Medicine, Health System & Hospitals. In Allred’s engineer went wild upon hearing the news, and Allred that capacity, he and Anne dedicated a chair, broadened reluctantly cancelled the deal. It’s all in the timing. A year and diversity scholarships, funded cancer research, and built a new change later, when a second offer was made, the project that Medical Education Building. had required all that gravel was scheduled to be done in a At their alma mater, Miami university, Ohio, the couple led the matter of weeks. But there was a kicker: just weeks before the funding of the Armstrong Student Center. closing, someone else put a check on Allred’s desk for the same

Michael Armstrong: No Limits

Susan Viebrock

Search The Telluride Phone Book and you will find two men with the last name “armstrong.” one was the first man to walk on the moon (neil). The other (mike) was the first outsider to occupy the throne at ma bell, selected for the job at at&t following his successful launch of directv and a market turnaround at hughes electronics. At hughes, armstrong was the first chairman and ceo to come from outside the defense industry. Like the other armstrong, part-time telluride local mike armstrong has touched the stars. Straight out of the gate, Mike Armstrong metabolized his mother’s motto: “No limits.” As a young man, when his father started his own business after being laid off, he worked on the docks of Detroit to help pay for tuition, attaining degrees in business and economics. Armstrong never looked back. Well, maybe once. That was the time a 600 pound black bear decided to raid the refrigerator at the Armstrong’s Telluride digs.(It’s a long story, but it worked out in the end. Armstrong stayed put. The bear acquired a new forwarding address.) In addition to positions at Hughes and AT&T, Armstrong is also the retired Chairman and Director Emeritus of the Comcast Corporation. At IBM, beginning as a systems engineer, he rose through the ranks to become Chairman of the Board of the IBM World Trade Corporation, retiring after 30 years. Armstrong has also held several positions in the public sector.He served President Clinton for eight years as Chairman of the President’s Export Council. He chaired the Homeland Security Committee, the Business Roundtable post 9-11 and is currently a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and The Conference Board, a global, independent business membership and research association. There is always some eager beaver waiting in the wings to knock a king off his pedestal. Armstrong is not without his detractors.The offset is a legion of friends and admirers, former Telluride local and pop star Oprah Winfrey among them. Oprah famously said that if Armstrong were running for President, he would be one of the few people she has ever known for whom she would quit her day job and personally campaign. She has described Armstrong publicly as a leader with “guts, vision and the balls to back it up.” Add compassion to the list. It is kindness, not Darwinian realities that floats Armstrong’s boat today. “My wife Anne and I grew up in the city of Detroit. We now own several homes across the country and are truly grateful for all that life has given us. When I hit my mid-60’s and faced retirement after 43 years in corporate America, we both said: “Let’s give it all back.” Giving it all back meant establishing priorities. We concluded higher education, innovation, and giving disadvantaged people a better chance were three areas worth our investment of time and money.” Armstrong became Vice Chair of Johns Hopkins university and Chair of the School of Medicine, Health System & Hospitals. In that capacity, he and Anne dedicated a chair, broadened diversity scholarships, funded cancer research, and built a new Medical Education Building. At their alma mater, Miami university, Ohio, the couple led the funding of the Armstrong Student Center. “The good news is that my alma mater is in Oxford, Ohio, a lovely town where Miami university defines life. The bad news is that Miami is in Oxford, Ohio, where there is not much to do. Thus, we were excited to be able to do the new student center.” Also at Miami university Mike and Anne established Armstrong Interactive Media studies (AIMS). The purpose of AIMS is enabling digital technology to strengthen and expand the transfer of knowledge. It is an interdisciplinary program with 37 faculty and instructors offering 35 courses and labs in every university division. For example, an AIMS team is digitizing manuscripts and tablets from ancient Tibet, a project sanctioned by the Dalai Lama, who honored the school with a visit in October. Outside of the field of education, the Armstrong’s opted to give the poor and disadvantaged a leg up, investing in projects in Connecticut (A Better Chance), and in NYC (The Marine Corp Scholarship Fund and The All Stars). In Guatemala, they are part of a group that brings basic infrastructure – fresh water, medical clinics, schools, stoves and latrines – to people living in remote Mayan mountain villages. In Telluride, Mike Armstrong was an early member of the Telluride Foundation, an organization of like-minded people united by a single goal; to create a stronger and better region through philanthropy. Armstrong was Chairman of the Telluride Medical Capital Fund, a small group of Telluride Foundation members that raised over one million dollars for the Telluride medical district. The story of how Armstrong became involved with the Foundation can be summed up in two words: Ron Allred. Allred is the former owner of the ski mountain in the days the world was a kinder, gentler place and everything about Telluride was coming up roses. Allred identified the need for a Telluride Foundation to support regional non-profits dedicated to social services and a robust cultural economy. In 1989, the Armstrongs and the Kuehlers (Jack Kuehler was a good friend from IBM) decided they wanted a place in the West.After exploring the usual suspects, the foursome discovered Telluride on a recommendation from a guy they met on a ski lift in Aspen. The site they found for their new home had it all: privacy, wide open vistas, year round water, and a backdrop of majestic mountains – and gravel. Lots of gravel. The gravel pit where the Armstrongs wanted to build was eight stories deep. Their initial offer to Allred was accepted until Allred’s engineer went wild upon hearing the news, and Allred reluctantly cancelled the deal. It’s all in the timing. A year and change later, when a second offer was made, the project that had required all that gravel was scheduled to be done in a matter of weeks. But there was a kicker: just weeks before the closing, someone else put a check on Allred’s desk for the same Piece of property for roughly three times the Armstrong deal.An abiding friendship was born when Allred rejected the richer offer. “If there were more like Ron in Telluride, people of integrity and foresight, we had clearly made the right choice for our new home.” When Allred told Armstrong about his hope to build the Telluride Foundation, Armstrong embraced the idea, becoming an enthusiastic adopter and pacesetter. It was through the Telluride Foundation that Armstrong met Telluride Properties broker, Brian O’Neill. “Committing to the Foundation means putting cash on the line.The fact a young man like Brian, who sits on the Foundation board, chose to give time and money towards making a difference in the place he calls home told me something about his character. Any real estate transaction I do in the Telluride region will be through Brian.” It is interesting to speculate about Armstrong’s legacy. Will folks line up with the former fraternity brother who described Armstrong by paraphrasing the Boy Scout motto: “loyal, friendly, trustworthy, (Business Week, June 1988)? Will they agree with Oprah, the guy would have been great running this country? Will they say he brought AT&T into the 21st century or diss his strategies? One thing certain: Armstrong is a highly intelligent man of deeply held convictions, who will go out fighting for what he believes in, regardless of what anyone says. Meanwhile, Telluride is his refuge, a place of “beauty and peace,” where Armstrong gets to sit in the middle of nowhere and do little more than hike, ski or read a good book. Being nowhere just enjoying life is something for a man who has done so much heavy lifting. “In His Own Words” The Economy. Our economy today is beset with conflicting forces and objectives. Too little employment growth, too much government growth. Too little private capital spending, too much public entitlement expansion. Too long to de-leverage our economy, increasing national deficits and debt. Too meager consumer spending, large tax increases announced. The result is economic uncertainty. And economic uncertainty is the enemy of investment. This is true both for individuals and business. If we believe private investment is an essential underpinning of economic growth, then the conditions that attract investment must be prioritized within the caldron of our conflicting forces and objectives. I would offer in the short term we address tax and trade policies to stimulate investment, with public entitlement and spending reductions to decrease deficits as we balance budgets. In the long term we should not assume economic growth alone will bring our deficits and debt in line with a fiscally responsible economy. There will have to be tax revenue increases, decreased subsidizations and coherent plans to reduce healthcare costs, fund Medicare and pay for social security. This is all doable, if this generation does it. Is America as “Top Dog” at Risk? There is an increasing drum beat that the world’s greatest nation, America, is destined to decline, will be overtaken by China, compromised by growth of the developing world and dethroned as “top dog.” This view begs that several questions be answered. First is increasing Global prosperity in spite of America or because of America. I would submit that America’s history of globallydefending against aggression, rebuilding economies, breaking down trade barriers and standing for democracy is responsible proof that the increasing prosperity of the world is a desired and determined consequence of American policy. Second, does the growth of the developing world increase pressure on America to be more competitive? You bet it does! It forces America to realize that we cannot compete without competitive high school graduates. We cannot compete without sufficient engineering, science and technology skills. We cannot compete without a productive workforce, a culture of risk taking and a quality of output. But we know how to do all of the above, if we have the leadership to accomplish it. And third, what really embodies this “top dog” status, this relative “greatness?” Is it simply output and military? Probably yes, in part. However, while size helps to define “top dog,” I believe it is insufficient to convey and conclude “greatness.” It is not only how big you are, it is what has made you big. America is a great nation because it has achieved size based on a constitution and society rooted in democracy, protective of freedom, respectful of its citizens and balances the power of government. It is important that this constitutional society is not only the basis of who we are, it is the basis of what we are. Thus, America’s risk of greatness can only be lost from within; only be lost if we use our democracy to sacrifice the future for premature entitlements; only be lost if we put rewards before risks; only be lost if we enable well being ahead of competitiveness.It is up to us. We will not lose “the greatest society” if we fulfill this unique heritage as we continue to build our democracy and competitiveness while leading a more prosperous global economy.

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