Friday, August 29, 2008

The Mover

Lifelong learning path leads to Boston Software

By Amy Castor, Special to Mass High Tech

Ken Carter was so keen to get into the technology business world that he took a cue from Bill Gates and left college one year shy of his degree. That choice worked for Gates, and seems to be paying off for Carter, who was recently named chief technology officer of Boston Software Systems, a company in Sherborn that makes automation software for the health-care industry.

“I left school early, but my education has been ongoing for the last 25 years,” said Carter. “In the technology field, your education never really ends.”

Carter ended his pursuit of a degree in information systems after his junior year and left the University of Michigan-Dearborn, in part because of a part-time computer job at a fitness company. “In the early ’80s, people were dying for computer talent,” he said. “Basically they offered me more money and a little bit of a different position, so I went with it.”

After that, he was never short on job offers. “Because I knew that I eventually wanted to run my own business, my goal was to get exposure to as many different business environments as possible.” 

And that he did. One opportunity took him East, where he got a job as a senior analyst at Gerald Metals Inc. in Connecticut. “I had a great boss at Gerald who gave me a lot of responsibility and freedom.” Four years later, he headed back to the Midwest to work as a programmer analyst for Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. in St. Louis. “I decided the opportunity to learn a new industry at a large corporation would be valuable to my career.” 

While working as a software engineer at Indus International Inc. in Atlanta, Carter and two coworkers went on to found software consulting firm Strategic Product Integration Inc. In five years, the company grew from zero revenue to $3.5 million before merging with Obvient Strategies Inc., in which Carter still holds a stake.

When offered the job at Boston Software, Carter was pleased to learn he could work from his current home in Charleston, S.C. “At some bigger companies I worked for, a lot of my employees were remote, so I was used to that,” said Carter. “Boston Software has proven it’s a viable way to run a company.”

Carter began his new position in April and is looking forward to his next big challenge. “I’m an optimist, and I have a high outlook for Boston Software,” he said. “They are proven to be successful, and I can take that and build around it.”

 

Amy Castor is a freelance writer in Amherst.