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8-1-1969
Sam Wyly, 1 August 1969
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SAM WYLY .. August 1, 1969
Sam Wyly was born in Lake Providence, Louisiana on October 4, 1934 .
. When he was in grade school, his family moved to Delhi, Louisiana, where
his father was editor of the newspaper.
Wyly received his B. S. in accounting at Louisiana Polytechnic Institute
and attended graduate school at the l!niversity of Michigan where he
earned his M. B. A. with concentration.in finance, statistics, and market-
ing. At the ?v1ichigan Business School, he took the first course in
Electronic Data Proc~ssing. He held a W. A. Paton Scholarship and
worked as an assistant in the school's accounting department while
earning his degree.
Besides being an outstanding student, Wyly ser'ved as president of the
Student Senate, president of his freshman class, and president of two fraternities, business and scholastic. He belongs to Phi Kappa Phi
(scholastic), Pi Kappa Alpha (social), Pi Kappa Delta (forensic), Beta
Sigma Omicron (business sc~olastic), and Omicron Delta Kappa " • (leadership).
After receiving his master from Micl1igan, Sam Wyly was employed for
3-1/2 years with IBM's Service Bureau Corporation, where he was a top salesman and member of two One Hundred Percent Clubs. He left
SBe in 1961 to become Area Sales Manager for Oklahoma, Arkansas, and
. ~. • 1. -1. . SAMWYLY page 2
North Texas for Honeywell's EOP Department. He recruited the first
technical and sales staff and secured Honeywell's first customers in that . . area. He was 28 years old when he left Honeywell in 1963 to organize
University Computing .Company.
A Texas charter was granted in July 1963 and in three years Univer,sity
Computing Company was operating centers in Dallas, Oklahoma City, Tulsa
and Santa Monica, California. Subsequently uec has expanded both in number
of proprietary computer and software services offered and in geographic .
locations. It has evolved into a multinational computer utility network with
subsidiary corporations enga.ged in computer leasing, input-output equipment
manufacturing, insurance and investments, and communications transmission.
While serving uee as President and Chief Executive Officer through May of
1969, Wyly steered the Company into the position of one of the fastest-growing
companies to appear in the country for some time. From it's simple beginning,
vee grew to over 3,000 employees with 1968 revenues in the $60 million range.
Net worth of the Company clin1bed to over $80 million from his original paid-
in capital of $1, 000 five and a half years earlier. .,
In addition to his present position a$ Chairman of the Board of V'CC, Mr. Wyly
is also Chairman of the Board of Bona11za International Inc., Chairman of the
Executive Committee of Earth Resources Company; Limited Partner of Mine
. -more-
; SAMW'YLY page 3
Fork Properties, Ltd.; Director of the First National Bank of Dallas;
Computer Leasing Company; Computer Industries Inc.; vee (Great Britain)
Ltd.; Dallas Chamber of Commerce, . Southern Methodist University Founda
tion for Science and Engineering, League for Educational Advancement in
Dallas (LEAD), and is a member of the Board of Trustees, Southern Methodist
University; Chairman ,of the Board of Trustees for The Sam Wyly Foundation
and on tpe Advisory Council for the Southwest Center for Advanced Studies.
Wyly is also a Business Foundation Director at Louisiana Polytechnic Institute
and served as Chairman of the Pattern Gifts Committee for Thanks-Giving
Square in Dallas. He was Vice-Chairman of the Major Gifts Division in the
1967-68 SMU Sustentation Campaign and will be a Co-Chairman on the Big
Gifts Committee for the Dallas County United Fund for 1969.
He was :a 'delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1968 and served as
Chairman of the Texas Nixon for President Finance Committee .
. Wyly is a member of the Dallas Citizens Council, Young Presidents' Organiza
tion, The Presidents Professional Association, The Presidents Club of The '
University of Michigan, The Dallas Forum, B:nd belongs to the Dallas Petroleum
Club and The City Club of Dallas.
After having been selected by the Texas Jaycees as one of Texas' Five
Outstanding Young Texans of 1967, he was selected by the United States Junior
Chamber of Commerce as one of America's Ten Outstanding Young Men of 1968.
-more- SAM WYLY PAGE 4
Wyly was honored as Distinguished Toastmaster for 1968 by the "Big 0" Chapter of the International Toastmasters and will be listed in World Who's Who in
Commerce and Industry starting with the 1968 published edition. He was pre- sented The American Academy of Achievement's Golden Plate at its eighth annual awards banquet on June 28, 1969 and was Headliner-of-the-Year at the
Dalla s Pres s Club's 1969 Gr idiron Show.
Sam Wyly married the former Rosemary Acton of Dallas in 1960 and they have three children.
Corporate offices for University Computing Company are located at 1300
Frito-Lay Tower in Dallas. Telephone 350- 1211.
In September, 1969 Sam Wyly was named Chairman of the Advisory Council for Minority Enterprise ~y the President and on October 9, 1969 it was announced by The White House that he had been named to the President's
Commission on·White House Fellowships.
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