St. Petersburg Times (Florida), October 26, 2006, Thursday

Copyright 2006 Times Publishing Company
All Rights Reserved
St. Petersburg Times (Florida)

October 26, 2006 Thursday
Correction Appended
1 Edition

SECTION: BUSINESS; Pg. 1D

HEADLINE: There's only one direction he'll go

SERIES: BUSINESS PROFILE

BYLINE: KRIS HUNDLEY

DATELINE: CLEARWATER

BODY:
Bob Dutkowsky, Tech Data CEO
Three weeks after taking over as Tech Data Corp.'s chief executive, Bob Dutkowsky has barely touched the big corner office at the company's headquarters here.
Family pictures are still in a box and the walls are bare except for one addition: giant maps of the United States and the world.
For Dutkowsky, who takes over the computer industry's No. 2 distributor, the maps are more than decoration. They symbolize his determination to make Tech Data the leader in its industry worldwide.
"There's nothing to stop us, no barrier to entry," said Dutkowsky, whose predecessor, Steve Raymund, spent 20 years building Tech Data into a $20.5-billion business and the largest public company in the Tampa Bay area. "We've got the people, infrastructure and financial wherewithal to make Tech Data No. 1 again. As long as we're not, I'll be uncomfortable."
Dutkowsky, 51, somehow manages to talk about global domination without coming across like a dictator. The guy who once captained Cornell University's baseball team is confident that ordinary people can achieve extraordinary goals.
That confidence has been bolstered in his first weeks at Tech Data, during which he has met and received e-mails from hundreds of employees, held video-conferences with European executives and made presentations to the company's 300 biggest business partners.
"This is not a culture that's used to losing," he said. "People here are saying, 'Let's go. Let's take that hill.' "
Dutkowsky has his work cut out for him. Tech Data is in a brutal business of tight margins where companies are lucky to make a penny on the dollar. Size matters and Tech Data, which was started by Raymund's father in 1974, has nearly 90,000 customers, a presence in the Americas, Europe and the Middle East, and partnerships with the top names in the tech industry.
But Tech Data still ranks second to Ingram Micro Inc., of Santa Ana, Calif., which on Tuesday said it will report record fourth-quarter sales, news that Dutkowsky admitted made his "blood boil."
Ingram also boasted stronger business in Europe, a weak spot for Tech Data, as well as growth in Asia, where Tech Data does not compete. Yet.
On Wednesday, Dutkowsky, who once ran distribution in Asia for IBM, said that would change, though he set no timetable for expansion. "We want to blanket the world," he said.
Kris Hundley can be reached at hundley@sptimes.com or (727) 892-2996.
FAST FACTS
Robert M. Dutkowsky
Title: Chief executive, Tech Data Corp.
Age: 51
Compensation: $900,000 annual salary plus guaranteed bonus equal to his salary in 2007 and 2008 fiscal years
Previous experience: CEO, Egenera Inc., Marlborough, Mass. (2004-2006); CEO, J.D. Edwards & Co., Denver, Colo. (2002-2004); Chairman, CEO, GenRad Inc., Westford, Mass. (2000-2002); Executive vice president, EMC Corp., Hopkinton, Mass. (1997-2000); Sales, marketing, management positions, IBM (1977-1999)
Education: Cornell University, B.S. labor and industrial relations, 1977
Family: Wife, Lorraine, 24. Year-old daughter, 21-year old son
Last book read: The Greatest Game Ever Played: Harry Vardon, Francis Ouimet, and the Birth of Modern Golf by Mark Frost
Leisure activity: "Golf, but I can't keep up with my son."
Number of household moves over 30-year career: 14
His idea of a perfect day: "Selling something to someone."
Tech habits: "My wife has taken my BlackBerry away from me. In church."
Comment on the competition: "We've forgotten more than they know."
FAST FACTS
Tech Data Corp.
Headquarters: Clearwater
Employees: About 8,000
Sales (Year ended Jan. 31): $20.5-billion
Earnings (Year ended Jan. 31): $26.6-million

CORRECTION-DATE: October 27, 2006

CORRECTION:
Tech Data chief executive Bob Dutkowsky has a 24-year-old daughter. The age was incorrect in a story Thursday.

GRAPHIC: PHOTO, CARRIE PRATT TIMES; PHOTO, (4); GRAPH, DANA OPPENHEIM TIMES