Technology >> CEO Interviews >> April 12, 1999
GERALD D. VAN EECKHOUT is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of
ACT Teleconferencing, Inc. He graduated from high school in Lake
Benton, Minnesota, and began his business career after graduation
from the University of North Dakota in 1962. His corporate
management career includes seven years as Chief Financial and
Administrative Officer of Medtronic, Inc., five years as Chief
Financial and Planning Officer at Pillsbury International, and
eight years as a CPA with Touche Ross & Co. in Minneapolis and
St. Paul. In 1976, he completed the Stanford Graduate School of
Business Executive Program. Since 1982, Mr. Van Eeckhout has
served on the Board of Directors of several companies and non-
profit organizations in which he has been integrally involved in
business plan development, market development, and financing. He
also has been active in many community and non-profit
organizations. Mr. Van Eeckhout's entrepreneurial commitment to
the teleconferencing industry began in 1982 in Denver at which
time he launched ConferTech International as President and CEO.
He personally invested $100,000 into the company, which made him
the largest investor. He took the company from two employees in
the unproven industry of teleconferencing to a profitable,
flourishing NASDAQ company with several hundred employees. He
established the structure, strategy and management team which
grew the company to over $60 million in revenue. While at
ConferTech, Mr. Van Eeckhout was credited as the first in the
country to introduce conference calling to communicate vital
financial information of public companies to shareholders,
analysts and brokers. In 1989, Mr. Van Eeckhout resigned as CEO
of ConferTech to start his own venture funded by himself and his
wife, Carolyn Van Eeckhout, in order to develop teleconferencing
on a global basis ' ACT Teleconferencing. Over the past 13 years
he has grown the company to 435 employees and over $50 million in
revenue. The company's headquarters are located in Denver,
Colorado, with operations in Australia, Belgium, Canada, France,
Germany, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Singapore, the United
Kingdom, and the United States, and virtual locations in Japan,
China, Taiwan, Indonesia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Russia,
Poland and South Africa. Profile
put us into context, what you see as your business, what you see as your
company today.
Mr. Van Eeckhout: Let me just
