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Comtrol rebuilds without ex-CEO
Comtrol rebuilds without ex-CEO
Published on 8/20/2007 Minnepolis/St. Paul Business Journal
Kris Rydberg, Comtrol’s director of product development, before a self-navigating car that uses the company’s technology. Comtrol is working on a defense-industry project for unmanned vehicles.
Comtrol Corp.'s technology is used throughout the country for everything from checking into hotels to controlling traffic signals. But the 25-year-old Maple Grove company itself was little known for decades -- until it got all the wrong sort of attention.
The low profile vanished last year when the firm's founder and CEO, Robert Beale, was indicted for tax evasion. The case made its way into local newspaper headlines after Beale, who believed income tax was illegal, did not show up for a court date and evaded law enforcement officials.
Since the charges, which alleged Beale owes the Internal Revenue Service more than $1.6 million in unpaid taxes, the company has worked to rebuild itself.
Comtrol has plans to announce a new board of directors and some planned restructuring over the coming days, said Bradford Beale, Robert Beale's son and vice president of the company.
"We're turning the page on our company," he said. From a day-to-day operations standpoint, it has been a challenge losing the company's top executive, Bradford Beale said. Robert Beale founded the company in 1982, after inventing a multiport serial controller used for networking. "My dad had a lot of involvement with the company. A lot of the company's early success has been attributable to him," said Bradford Beale. "Unfortunately, what he wanted to be involved in philosophically was running at odds with the productive governance of the company."
Since Comtrol's founding, the firm's technology has evolved, said Kris Rydberg, Comtrol's director of product development and marketing. The company makes technology used to control communications between devices and computers. Comtrol sells products mostly to the hospitality industry, industrial companies and the military, among others.
Despite the publicity, Robert Beale's legal troubles did not affect the firm's relationship with customers, Bradford Beale said. "It was certainly mentioned a few times. It's hard to say what competitors might say behind your back," he said. The only notable challenge was working with government agencies, where Comtrol had to take steps to distance itself from its founder. Meanwhile, the firm also is working to raise its profile -- based on its products, not its founder's trouble.
The company partnered with Bloomington-based SICK Inc. to enter a contest sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The firm used its technology to co-create an unmanned vehicle that could eventually be used by the military. The firm is among more than a dozen nationwide participating in the contest; the winner will garner $2 million from DARPA. Bradford Beale said he was not prepared to disclose details of the planned changes to the company's governance, saying only: Robert Beale no longer owns the company.
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