Meet the Donors

Allen J. Krowe: Supporter of Teaching Excellence
 

Allen J. Krowe ’54 attributes some of the successes in his tremendously successful career to the start he received at the University of Maryland’s business program. He endowed the Krowe Teaching Excellence Awards to acknowledge the great education he received at the university. “I received a top-grade education that I could afford—which was about $400 a year at the time,” remembers Krowe. “There is something very special about the land grant schools. A student of modest means can attend the school in their state and, if they were lucky enough to be in Maryland, receive a tremendous education.”

Krowe took that education to great heights, first as a fighter pilot with the U.S. Air Force, then as CFO, executive vice president and member of the Corporate Management Board for IBM. He was an integral part of Big Blue during the years that saw the advent of the international fax machine, the invention of bar codes, the launch of the first business satellites, and the ascendance of the personal computer.

Krowe remembers the difficulties IBM had persuading both managers and consumers to accept the now-ubiquitous bar code system. “We had to fight our way through the briar patch of consumer advocates who were dead set against having a bar code on a product because they felt—wrongly—that it would confuse consumers or that it would cheat people,” says Krowe. “What they failed to understand was that it cut the costs of operation by about 2 percent, which in the competitive retail business is very significant in keeping prices down.”

This kind of success might have been enough for others, but Krowe went on to distinguish himself in a second career: as vice chairman of Texaco Inc. Krowe was 57, and IBM’s mandatory retirement age of 60 was staring him in the eyes. Texaco was going through a difficult period, working through an adverse legal ruling that was going to cost them several billion dollars. “Frank Carey, the previous chairman of IBM, and Tom Murphy, the chairman of Cap Cities ABC, were on both the IBM and Texaco boards,” says Krowe. “They told me ‘We’d love to have you stay at IBM, but here’s a chance for you to have eight or nine more years at Texaco.’”

Krowe took that chance and served as deputy to the chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Texaco. “It was very energizing to take on a new industry,” says Krowe. “I really enjoyed it! It was a great second career.”

Krowe is retired now, but is on several private capital boards. In his free time he enjoys writing poetry, playing saxophone and clarinet, painting, and the company of his five wonderful granddaughters.