GIVING BACK TIME AND MONEY
Terry Hardie, class of ‘64 and ‘66, last visited the campus thirteen years ago, for his 25th reunion, but he has an ongoing impact on Tech: He is the corporate agent at StorageTek, a Colorado firm that matches 50 percent of its employees' charitable gifts.
StorageTek sells data storage devices for computers, servers, and other intensive data storage applications. Hardie oversees a staff responsible for managing his company's relationships with other computer manufacturers.
At age 62, he is preparing to retire from a career that began with a bachelor's degree in metallurgical engineering in 1964 and a master's degree in business administration in 1966. The engineering degree was marked by practical application and the business degree by problem solving. Both stood him well on the job. “I was immediately challenged and thought I was prepared,” he says of his start in the workaday world.
Hardie, originally from the Toronto area, says his enduring memory of Michigan Tech is the camaraderie associated with a small college in a remote location. “I really enjoyed the people,” he says.
That kinship carried over to his labors. Good relationships—“the ability to grow the people under me”—proved key to his success. “You can't do everything yourself,” he says. “Dole out the responsibility. Tap into other people's capabilities.”
That attitude was backed up with diligent application. “I persevered and worked darn hard when I was at Tech, and that carried over as I entered the workplace,” he says. “If you don't do that, you're not going to achieve your goals.”
The hardest part of his college days was being broke all the time. “Looking back it wasn't so bad, but at the time it was burden,” he says.
Which is part of the reason he supports Tech and other good causes. “I tend to believe you've got to give something back—time and money,” he says.
Matching Gift Messenger, Winter 2002