The People who shall lead us

"Why are all the people who know how to run the country cutting hair or driving a cab?"
George Burns

One such former Boston cab driver, Dennis Morin,  migrated out to Southern California by the late 1970's.  He was joined in the Southland by long time friends Chet Tomsick and Hank Castignetti.  

The taxi driver could took jobs at Hughes Aircraft and later Varco Oil Services.  The later caught the attention of a struggling startup, Irvine based Triconex in 1984 when Dennis's resume surfaced.  Triconex was looking for someone with oil services experience, as that was the market they were targeting.   Most of the early engineers at Triconex barely had automation experience, let alone understood what it would take to sell their product to refineries.  

Mr. Morin had a good run at Triconex, as a staff engineer he designed the early Ladder Logic based programming interface.  He gained confidence in observing the meticulous committment of Triconex to relentless quality and also how adept the executive team was at raising venture capital.  Mr. Morin did not leave Triconex in February, 1986 of his own volition.   But he left with friends and and some ideas about a product concept and starting his own company.   Founded April Fool's Day, 1987, Dennis whimsically gave the company a temporaty name, Wonderware. The name stuck, and the company grew so fast that it nearly missed the growing pains associated with any startup. 

Next in the History of a Safer World - The French Connection