Here we profile someone or some aspect of WISL to create a better understanding of our operations, goals and people.

Allen Price

    Al Price worked at the University of Waterloo between 1969 and 1975. Starting as a programmer he had risen to Project Manager when he decided to leave for the private sector. Together with another former U of W employee, AL formed a company to develop and sell business information systems. The company(CPA Data Systems) adopted the multi-value operating system/DBMS as their development platform and convinced many regional businesses including JM Schneider to acquire computer systems running the Ultimate computing environment. They became so successful that Ultimate Corporation based in the United States granted them the main distributorship for their products in Canada and they changed their company name to Ultimate Canada.

    Although Al was very busy as President of CPA Data Systems he accommodated the wishes of the other principals to assume the role of WISL's first President. It was advantageous for WISL to have someone from outside of an academic institution functioning as the chief executive officer. However Al did much more than act as the legal head of the company. Al's technical knowledge of the multi-value environment was instrumental in helping to shape WISL's Screen Control Application Development System(SCADS). Al provided numerous sales leads in the non-profit association marketplace. Al also offered guidance in the development of infrastructure to help address the information systems supplier business model(sales and license agreements etc). Most importantly Al brought the credibility of a successful track record in the business.

    Al has the rare ability to state his view on a complex issue in a few well chosen words. Yogi Berra would be impressed with Al's position on government funding programs..."The only way to make money is to make money" says Al. The expansion of this view is that it often costs more to acquire a government grant or loan than the proceeds would yield. WISL should have followed Al's principle as regards a specific federal government program, the pursuit of which revealed corruption and bureaucratic ineptitude that resulted in extensive waste of WISL time and resources. The lesson has been learned.

    By the early 90's Al had extricated himself from an ownership position with Ultimate Canada and was in a position to pursue a long time dream. Al and his wife, June, purchased a custom made 40 foot yacht and set off for the Caribbean. About 5 years later they returned and Al knew he wanted to go back to work but not in the traditional framework. During his voyages he had become an internet aficionado with a focus on personal computing. Al and June started a company called AJ Systems which focuses on personal computing utilities and may be accessed at: http://www.AJsystems.com