It’s time for a change. Actually, the change is long overdue. For the past 20 years, he’s been working hard to build someone else’s dream, to create someone else’s vision, to grow someone else’s company. Now it’s his turn. He dreams of a creating a company that allows employees with drive and creativity to make their own decisions and have real opportunity for growth. He wants to create an atmosphere where everyone, from the top down, works together to produce the best possible work. He wants everyone to be a stakeholder.
Frankly, he has been paid too little, worked too hard, and felt replaceable, and it’s time for the next step. Yes, he has gained valuable experience throughout his career, first as a quantitative analyst for Morgan Stanley and Tudor Investments, then vice president for Goldman Sachs, and finally chief technology officer at Carlson Capital, a multibillion-dollar hedge fund. However, George Michaels (S’88) knows that if he really wants something to change, he must be his own boss.
So the Buffalo, N.Y., native takes on his most challenging investment to date—starting a company that will help firms address their business and information technology needs by offering technical consulting expertise in investment management platforms. In December 2005, G2 Systems officially opens its doors with Michaels as the chief executive officer.
His first order of business is finding employees—and he knows just where to go. “I needed people who would think like I do,” he says. “That’s what Carnegie Mellon offers, so that’s where I went. People already have the training to think in that unique Carnegie Mellon way, which is extremely productive for our company.”
For Michaels, Carnegie Mellon offered something else, too. It’s where his path crossed with Jenna Deveza’s (HS’89). She had transferred to Carnegie Mellon her junior year to pursue a degree in professional writing. “George and I met through my roommate at our off-campus apartment on Forbes Avenue. George was her computer skills workshop instructor.”
Romance soon blossomed. After earning their degrees, they ended up in New York City—she taking a job with a publishing company and he pursuing a master’s degree in computer science at Columbia University. They exchanged vows in 1990. “We figured if we could last a year together in New York City, we could last a lifetime,” says Jenna. The next 15 years saw many changes for the couple, including moves from Manhattan to Dallas to their current home in Andover, Mass., as well as several career changes for Jenna—from writer to production editor to stay-at-home mom after James was born in 1997, followed by Emily in 2001.
It was 2005 when Michaels formed G2, with his wife’s full support. During the past six years, he has grown G2 from two to 33 people, finding several employees just where he thought he would, the Carnegie Mellon community:
- Atishe Chordia (HS’10, E’10), product manager
- Gregory Hoch (CS’06), senior software manager
- Daniel Tilkin (S’99, CS’99), senior software manager
- Gregory Williams (CS’10), software engineer
There’s one more, too. At G2’s outset, Jenna worked on several independent writing and editing projects for the company, and two years ago she joined the team full-time. Her husband had approached her about coordinating the recruiting and marketing, and though she had some initial reservations, how could she say no to the man sitting across the dinner table. “And I liked the fact that I could work at home and create my own hours, so I could still attend all the important school events for my kids,” she says, adding that she is also the boss’s gal Friday, as well as a sounding board when he wants to talk shop.
Michaels says that all of the elements of Carnegie Mellon work together to make the company successful: “The combination of someone with a degree in computer science working directly with someone with a degree in writing is uncommon. Together we come up with some of the most creative solutions to problems.”
Tilkin, in particular, has put his creativity to work outside of the office. He is the communications chair of the university’s New York Metro Chapter, working directly with the chapter’s president, Kevin O’Brien (E’00), to promote alumni events through weekly emails and the chapter’s Web site: www.cmu.edu/alumni/newyork. Like any supportive alumnus, he encourages others to get involved, whether attending a chapter event, pledging a gift, or returning to campus to celebrate a reunion during Spring Carnival & Reunion Weekend.
Michaels, meanwhile, continues to oversee the growth of G2, which has expanded its consulting services and evolved into a software firm as well. TaxGopher®, the company’s flagship product, helps financial services firms comply with the new IRS cost-basis reporting requirements. The app has received accolades in several financial publications.
Given G2’s growth, Michaels hasn’t lost sight of employee satisfaction. “I really want people to have control over their own destiny,” he says, pointing out that everyone hired has the opportunity to own stock in the company after just a year on the job. Employees can also take as much or as little vacation as they want because their compensation is performance driven. “We want everyone to feel empowered and be stakeholders.”
Tilkin says he has that feeling; G2 to him is like a bunch of classmates working together. The Trumble, Conn., native still remembers the day Michaels contacted him about a job. “My first interview with him, he was assembling a computer part of the time. That was the number one reason I accepted the job. I knew it was a good fit.”
Laurel Furlow is the assistant director of on-campus programs in the Office of Alumni Relations.
