Kurtzig, Sandra oral history

Ms. Kurtzig was born in Chicago in 1947 and later moved to Los Angeles, where she attended high school and college. She studied at UCLA, earning a BS degree in mathematics before moving onto Stanford, where she earned a Masters Degree in aeronautical engineering. She had learned computer programming while working at TRW systems while attending UCLA. She was writing in BASIC and using a GE timesharing terminal in the lab where she worked. She liked the timesharing environment and felt that with her science background she could do well selling GE timesharing services. She got just such a job, working for GE in New Jersey. After deciding to move back to California, she transferred to a GE office in Palo Alto. A couple of the customers she was working with wanted an inventory management system, so she developed such a program for them on GE’s timesharing system. Shortly after, she decided to leave GE to start a family, but continued writing software at home. She bootstrapped this programming business into a full-service computer business, providing inventory management software to a wide variety of companies. Her company was ASK Computer Systems, which went public in October 1981. She gave up her CEO role in 1984 to pursue other interests, but in 1989 the Board asked her to resume her role as CEO. She left the company again in 1991. She is currently Chairman of her next startup, Kenandy.