SEP 30, 2014 PROGRAM:
Generation of Wealth
...the rise of Control Data and how it inspired an era of innovation and investment in the Upper Midwest.
Control Data Corporation was a stock market sensation increasing 780 times from its offering price in the period 1957 – 1968. Its financial success led to the formation of many new companies. Now the name Control Data is gone, but its influence continues in Medtronic, St. Jude Medical, and other companies as follow-on successes. An owner of 100 shares of Medtronic initial stock would now have 100,000 shares and annual dividends over $100,000 a year. History is both interesting and instructive.
Born in St. Cloud, MN, Don Hall was trained initially as a security analyst at the First National Bank of Minneapolis. He worked for 13 years at Control Data in financial positions, and following that, for 20 years as a retail stockbroker for R. J. Steichen and Co., a firm he owned in partnership for a period of time. Now retired, he has written two books and lives with his wife, Marion, in south Minneapolis where they keep chickens, and grow vegetables and flowers. In the winter, Marion is a volunteer teacher and Don shovels snow.