Instead of retiring to his Hawaii home after twenty five years as a successful executive in the technology industry, Kenneth L. Coleman has embarked on a new career as an innovator of a software product designed to improve information technology (IT) management for chief information officers (CIOs). The start up company, ITM Software, is Coleman’s brainchild. He is one of the founders, its chairman, and the chief executive officer (CEO). Even before he began ITM Software, Coleman was recognized by Black Enterprise as one of its top twenty five blacks in the technology industry for 2001.
Coleman began his technology career in 1972, following completion of his education at Ohio State University (OSU) and four years in the U.S. Air Force. He was hired by the consumer information technology giant Hewlett Packard and worked there for ten years in many capacities including corporate staffing, personnel, and manager of northern European personnel. His next position was with Activision Inc., a company that develops, publishes, and distributes interactive entertainment and leisure products. During his years at Activision, he served as vice president of human resources and vice president of product development.
For the next fourteen years he worked for Silicon Graphics Inc., a technology organization that produces servers, supercomputers, visualization systems, workstations, storage solutions, and software. At the California headquartered $2.3 billion company, he was promoted from senior vice president of administration and business development to executive vice president of Global Sales, Services, and Marketing. His responsibilities included overseeing sales, marketing, and services, and he was responsible for revenue and gross margins.
After he retired in August 2001 from his career as a senior technology manager, he began a new adventure that would become ITM Software. Even though the market for technology companies was weak in 2001, ITM Software was the result of an attempt to resolve a problem that had plagued Coleman when he was a manager of information and technology. According to ITM Software Company, the dilemma centered on the frustration of “communicating the value of IT … to executives across the company .. . and the inability to answer many of the basic business questions relating to IT in a timely manner.” He was willing to start his company during the weak technology market. In a Black Enterprise article in November 2002, he expressed that during an economic downturn expectations are low, good people can be found, and rents are cheaper. In order to put his vision into action, he gathered around him experienced information technology experts. The other founders and members of the company’s management team, board of directors, and advisory committee are VIPs (very important persons) of the technology and financial industries. Coleman went from being an executive at a large company of over 4,000 to an entrepreneur of a company with 30 employees. In his new position, he uses all his previous experiences and contacts, tapping available resources to raise funds for his start-up company. His effective explanation of his product and services along with his stellar record as a manager brought major investors on board despite the current climate of fear of losing money in yet another technology company with great promises and little delivery.
ITM Software is privately held. Its product is an integrated business suite that aids company CIOs and IT departments. ITM not only creates the software package but also provides services to its customer that only a company with the expertise of its staff can present. Significant in his approach to launching this new company is that he has sought advice as well as investors from the African American community. Coleman is described as a visionary, a pioneer, and a coalition builder with an active mind filled with ideas. Since its founding, the company has been described by Business Wire as an emerging leader in the enterprise software industry because of its skilled management team, its products, and its best practice expertise. ITM Software seeks customers from Fortune 2000 corporations, government agencies, and universities. It has gained a reputation for its customer service relations and its single focus to help chief information officers be more successful in their management of the information technology function. That is a direct reflection of the CEO’s philosophy, which is to serve the customers’ needs. His goal is to earn more than $10 million in revenues per year.
Based on the leadership of its CEO, one of the values of the company is its commitment to involvement in the community. Throughout his career he served on the board of directors of Acclaim Entertainment, MIPS Technologies, and United Online. He has served as a member of the Ohio State University Alumni Advisory Council and the Dean’s Advisory Council for the business schools at Ohio State and Santa Clara universities. He has served as board member of the Bay Area Black United Fund, the University of Santa Clara Industrial Advisory Commission, the Children’s Health Council, the University of California San Francisco, and City National Bank.
For his achievements, Coleman has received recognition and awards. From his alma mater, Ohio State University, he received the Distinguished Service Award during the 2003 commencement. He is the recipient of the National Alliance of Black School Educators Living Legend Award, the American Leadership Forum of Silicon Valley Exemplary Leader Award, and the One Hundred Black Men of Silicon Valley Lifetime Achievement Award and was inducted into the Junior Achievement Hall of Fame Honoring Business Leaders of Silicon Valley and Monterey Bay in 1998. He received the Award for Excellence in Community Service for San Jose, California, and the Marketing Opportunities in Business and Entertainment Award.
A popular speaker, Coleman has spoken at the Stanford Business School Conference on “People of Color in the Economy.” He is a member of the OSU Fisher College of Business Dean’s Advisory Council. Before he retired from SGI, he, along with the staff, helped design the college’s computer/ communications network. He provides advice to students in the OSU Advanced Center of the Arts and Design.
Coleman grew up in the small southern Illinois town of Centralia with only 10 percent of the population of 14,000 African Americans. He left Centralia to attend Ohio State University, where he earned both a B.S. degree in industrial management and an M.B.A. Coleman would one day manage at a company that employed as many people as there were African Americans in his hometown. He is a retired U.S. Air Force captain. He is married to Caretha Coleman; they have five children Kennetha, Karen, Kimberly, Kristen, and Kenneth. He lives by the creed of the company motto: “We say what we do; we do what we say… we act together in harmony, which allows us to execute with excellence and deliver on our promises.”
