Advance Man: The Life and Times of Harry Hoagland
In 2005, Boston's Newbury Street Press published my biography of Henry Williamson Hoagland Jr. (Harry), Advance Man: The Life and Times of Harry Hoagland. In the course of his professional career, Harry was a pioneering venture capital executive and presidential advance man (for President Eisenhower), founding partner of Fidelity Ventures, and a generous and prolific philanthropist.
Harry Hoagland was a venture capital success, as he was at other fields, because he worked hard to exploit opportunities, even in the face of resistance from others. For example, "General" Georges Doriot, the founder of American Research and Development Corporation (the first publicly held venture capital company), and Harry's mentor, was never particularly keen on developing new business for ARD in regions of the country outside of the Northeast U.S. But having grown up in the Rocky Mountains and on the West Coast, this was a distinct advantage Harry could give A.R.D., and he worked hard to convince Doriot. Along the way, he would make several good friends who would be both personally and professionally close through much of his life.
Georges Doriot, the legendary Harvard Business School professor, whose popular course "Manufacturing" was the seed that bore A.R.D., and ignited the careers of several highly accomplished venture executives, was previously the chief of the Military Planning Division of the U.S. Army's Quartermaster General's Office during World War II. Harry was his direct report, and helped him organize and streamline the office. The Military Planning Division worked with innovators like Leon Leonwood (L.L.) Bean, who designed improved mountain field boots called mukluks; the noted explorer and photographer Bradford Washburn, who helped design and test new mountaineering clothing and equipment; and with companies like DuPont, who designed the first Kevlar bulletproof vests. It was the kind of incubator that fueled Doriot's (and Harry's) imagination about the potential of technological innovation to benefit society.
The late Dr. Samuel W. Bodman, former U.S. Secretary of Energy, recalled to me that Harry greatly enjoyed taking the train in his trips across America, and in his travels was invited to dinner by more than one bank president. It was not unusual for him to walk into a bank, introduce himself, and, with his easygoing manner, manage to learn not only more of the bank itself, but of its chief executive as well. Through conversations with them and/or by his own diligence, he would often hear about of the head of a local company who was looking to either pare down commitments or sell the company — a personal as well as a professional reason to pursue a partnership with A.R.D. As Bodman told it, Harry was the amiable sort who could walk into a gathering where he knew absolutely no one, and leave with not only business cards, but new acquaintances - some of whom would become life-long friends.
For example, it was in this manner that Harry met and became friendly with Grover Ellis, a Houston banker who was a board member of a company called CAMCO, which specialized in drilling equipment and techniques for pressure lifting oil from wells. Harry’s cultivation of CAMCO became a major financial success for A.R.D., and continued a friendship (begun earlier in Kennebunkport, Maine) between Harry and George H.W. Bush, whom Harry brought in as a director of the company. Through Harry, A.R.D. previously had a financial interest in Bush’s oil company, Zapata Offshore, and also in CAMCO, which was important in the emerging ancillary high pressure-lifting industry. Harry and Bush's friendship only grew over the years, and both eventually served together on the vestry of St. Ann's Church in Kennebunkport, Maine.
In 1961, Harry had taken a leave of absence from A.R.D to work on Republican political campaigns, and Doriot felt compelled to write him a letter explicitly stressing his importance to the firm:
“First, let me say that there is no question in my mind as to the important of what you have to do with Midwestern, Radar Relay, CAMCO, Geotechnical, and El Charvon [various technology and energy companies], and any projects in that district [largely in Texas], so again let me say that there is no question as to the importance of those jobs in my mind.
“However, as you realize, we are sort of swamped here; therefore, I would very much appreciate it if you could could do everything you can so that this trip of yours is as short as possible. Be kind enough to compress your activities as much as you can and do the best you can not to be away any longer than strictly necessary without its interfering with the usual high quality of what you do.”
Harry’s work obviously had made a very positive impression on Doriot, and without Doriot’s realizing it, he had become a strong convert to Harry’s business cultivation in the southern and western U.S. Of course, with the profitability of the investments he had discovered, this was a relatively easy task.
In Harry's archive, I discovered how hyper-organized this man truly was. Harry was an inveterate and highly efficient note taker, and in his role of advance man, recorded the logistical details of President Eisenhower's visits around the country. In one case, where Eisenhower was visiting Peoria, Illinois to lend a bit of support to Republican officials, Harry noted everything from the time schedule for the stops, but also who rode in the motorcade, and where certain politicians would sit in the presidential limo. In this case, a favorite son of Peoria, Robert H. Michel (who would later become Minority Leader in the U.S. House of Representatives), was given a preferential seating assignment. But just to think of how Harry managed such minute details before the internet and smartphones is truly awe-inspiring. President Eisenhower later inscribed a photo of himself to Harry, calling him a "true worker in the vineyard" during the 1956 election season.
Harry Hoagland was a venture capital success, as he was at other fields, because he worked hard to exploit opportunities, even in the face of resistance from others. For example, "General" Georges Doriot, the founder of American Research and Development Corporation (the first publicly held venture capital company), and Harry's mentor, was never particularly keen on developing new business for ARD in regions of the country outside of the Northeast U.S. But having grown up in the Rocky Mountains and on the West Coast, this was a distinct advantage Harry could give A.R.D., and he worked hard to convince Doriot. Along the way, he would make several good friends who would be both personally and professionally close through much of his life.
The late Dr. Samuel W. Bodman, former U.S. Secretary of Energy, recalled to me that Harry greatly enjoyed taking the train in his trips across America, and in his travels was invited to dinner by more than one bank president. It was not unusual for him to walk into a bank, introduce himself, and, with his easygoing manner, manage to learn not only more of the bank itself, but of its chief executive as well. Through conversations with them and/or by his own diligence, he would often hear about of the head of a local company who was looking to either pare down commitments or sell the company — a personal as well as a professional reason to pursue a partnership with A.R.D. As Bodman told it, Harry was the amiable sort who could walk into a gathering where he knew absolutely no one, and leave with not only business cards, but new acquaintances - some of whom would become life-long friends.
For example, it was in this manner that Harry met and became friendly with Grover Ellis, a Houston banker who was a board member of a company called CAMCO, which specialized in drilling equipment and techniques for pressure lifting oil from wells. Harry’s cultivation of CAMCO became a major financial success for A.R.D., and continued a friendship (begun earlier in Kennebunkport, Maine) between Harry and George H.W. Bush, whom Harry brought in as a director of the company. Through Harry, A.R.D. previously had a financial interest in Bush’s oil company, Zapata Offshore, and also in CAMCO, which was important in the emerging ancillary high pressure-lifting industry. Harry and Bush's friendship only grew over the years, and both eventually served together on the vestry of St. Ann's Church in Kennebunkport, Maine.
In 1961, Harry had taken a leave of absence from A.R.D to work on Republican political campaigns, and Doriot felt compelled to write him a letter explicitly stressing his importance to the firm:
“First, let me say that there is no question in my mind as to the important of what you have to do with Midwestern, Radar Relay, CAMCO, Geotechnical, and El Charvon [various technology and energy companies], and any projects in that district [largely in Texas], so again let me say that there is no question as to the importance of those jobs in my mind.
“However, as you realize, we are sort of swamped here; therefore, I would very much appreciate it if you could could do everything you can so that this trip of yours is as short as possible. Be kind enough to compress your activities as much as you can and do the best you can not to be away any longer than strictly necessary without its interfering with the usual high quality of what you do.”
Harry’s work obviously had made a very positive impression on Doriot, and without Doriot’s realizing it, he had become a strong convert to Harry’s business cultivation in the southern and western U.S. Of course, with the profitability of the investments he had discovered, this was a relatively easy task.
In Harry's archive, I discovered how hyper-organized this man truly was. Harry was an inveterate and highly efficient note taker, and in his role of advance man, recorded the logistical details of President Eisenhower's visits around the country. In one case, where Eisenhower was visiting Peoria, Illinois to lend a bit of support to Republican officials, Harry noted everything from the time schedule for the stops, but also who rode in the motorcade, and where certain politicians would sit in the presidential limo. In this case, a favorite son of Peoria, Robert H. Michel (who would later become Minority Leader in the U.S. House of Representatives), was given a preferential seating assignment. But just to think of how Harry managed such minute details before the internet and smartphones is truly awe-inspiring. President Eisenhower later inscribed a photo of himself to Harry, calling him a "true worker in the vineyard" during the 1956 election season.
Comments
Post a Comment