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Raul Fernandez took some heat during the dot-com boom for not being exciting enough. His company, Proxicom, was creating internal networks for blue-chip companies. “We weren’t cool because our clients weren’t cool,” he says.
Then the dot-com bubble burst, and companies that relied on cool clients crashed and burned. It was a big win for a man who travels in tow worlds and is at home in both.
As a student at the University of Maryland, Fernandez got a 1984 summer internship in the office of then-congressman Jack Kemp. When the job carried into the school year, Fernandez did both full-time. With no time to change clothes between the Capitol and College Park, he was often the only person in class wearing a jacket and tie.
Did he mind stand out in a sea of sneakers and jeans? Not a bit. Fernandez had his eyes on the prize. “I was lucky to get this unique opportunity,” he says of his job with Kemp.
Kemp, too, was lucky. Fernandez, the first on his block to have a computer, was able to computerize data for a tax bill Kemp was sponsoring. At the time, Hill economists were cranking out their numbers on hand calculators.
Fernandez credits Kemp with teaching him the importance of positive leadership. As a young aide, Fernandez asked Kemp about taking a negative stance on an issue. Kemp refused, “I want to be worthy of winning,” he said. So did Raul Fernandez.
In 1991, at age 25, Fernandez gave up a secure future as a policy wonk to start his own company. “I had nothing to lose,” he says. “I could put a down payment on a house or float a business.” He started Proxicom with an investment of $40,000 and a few engineers.
Proxicom designed two kinds of websites, extranets (networks accessible to the company’s employees and select outsiders) and intranets (employees only). From the beginning, Fernandez concentrated on client service rather than “gee-whiz” graphics – developing sites that helped companies build the bottom-line as well as client loyalty.
When Fernandez took Proxicom public in 1999, he had 2,000 employees. Two years later Fernandez sold it for nearly $450 million. He used some of his $210-million profit to buy into the Washington Wizards, Mystics, and Capitals.
Fernandez devoted himself to philanthropy, but he missed business-building. Two years ago he became chair of ObjectVideo, a company that creates software for video-surveillance systems.
Fernandez has proved himself a gracious winner.
“Education is key,” he says. “The world changes quickly. I learned early that you can never stop learning.”
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