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August 2002 Maynard Bernstein by Ralph Cherry Alamo PC Organization: HOME > About Us > Awards > Volunteers Of The Month |
Our Volunteer of the Month for this month is Maynard Bernstein. Among several claims to fame is the fact that he was one of the original 10 or 12 people who got together in January of 1983 in order to form Alamo PC Users Group. He was also one of the 3 people who started the Financial/Investment SIG. More recently, he has become the SIG leader for the HGSI (High Growth Stock Investment) SIG, meeting at Frost Bank on the 1st Thursday of every month (average attendance 30).
I had seen Maynard in action during the Financial SIG on Saturday mornings, so was curious about his story. It turns out that he has substantial training and experience in the business world - including a degree from Wharton School of Finance, and owning and operating several businesses (including an early computer store). While at Wharton, he first saw the Eniac (an early computer). To him, a Friden Manual Calculator and a Punch Card Sorter . .
| was to me, state of the art. I could hardly imagine what a difference Eniac would make to our civilization |
After a stint in the Army, he got involved in business to business services.
| It was in the mid 1960's that the first time share companies began to offer their services to small businesses who could not justify the millions of dollars needed for the equipment. |
His next business venture was with a ComputerLand franchise in San Antonio, then the largest reseller of Apple along with CPM-based micro computers. Maynard learned that they were to be the original reseller of the yet-to-be-introduced IBM PC and they wanted a franchisee in the San Antonio area. Then he started installing automated systems into companies that had never used computers, drastically increasing their productivity while managing new growth.
Maynard first heard about “computer users groups” from his customers at ComputerLand. Then comes that historic first meeting of AlamoPC in January of 1983.
Another “Defining Moment” for Maynard was in 1994, when Discount Brokers began, and he was able to dial in on his 900 baud modem to get very current information so as to make his own investments decisions. Maynard says,
| I saw the possibilities and took advantage of as many as I could. A fulfilled retirement became a reality. |
So does he use the computer much now, and for what? He says
| I use the internet probably about 6 hours a day. And I love e-mail. It pretty much has replaced my phone usage and certainly my letter writing. I use spreadsheets and Word a lot. But I think I could still get by with Wordstar 1.0 and Lotus 1.0. I am not a techie, nor a nerd. I just want to be more productive and want the information I need in more real time. |
So there’s the story. Another AlamoPC volunteer and SIG leader,
and the path that got him there.