George Schussel
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George Schussel (born 1941 in
occupied France The Military Administration in France (german: Militärverwaltung in Frankreich; french: Occupation de la France par l'Allemagne) was an interim occupation authority established by Nazi Germany during World War II to administer the occupied zo ...
during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
) is an American businessman and entrepreneur. In 1942, Schussel's father brought the family out of German-occupied territory into Spain, and subsequently into the United States. Educated at
UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...
on the west coast and at
Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
on the east coast, Schussel became best known as the founder and chairman of
Digital Consulting Institute Digital Consulting Institute (DCI) was a seminar company launched in 1982 by George Schussel and his wife Sandi from their home in Massachusetts. It evolved out of a series of database seminars taught by George Schussel in the 1970s. Early devel ...
(DCI). By 1998 DCI had become one of the most significant American conference and expo companies in the field of technology. Schussel's expertise on database, computing architectures, the internet and information management issues also inspired him to travel to many countries presenting lectures that gave his views on the latest computer technologies and probable directions for the future of computer technology. As of 2004, Schussel had given over 1,000 seminars for other technology professionals in countries such as France, UK, Belgium, Venezuela, Canada, Mexico, South Africa, Japan, and Australia.Computer History Museum article on Dr. George Schussel
.
Computer History Museum The Computer History Museum (CHM) is a museum of computer history, located in Mountain View, California. The museum presents stories and artifacts of Silicon Valley and the information age, and explores the computing revolution and its impact on ...
. Retrieved December 21, 2010.


Accomplishments

George Schussel has been the inventor and chairperson of computer industry trade shows such as ''Database World'', ''Client/Server World'', and ''Creating the Real Time Enterprise''. His lectures have scored 9 on a 10-point scale and were noted for underlining and explaining technical issues, while focusing on the business benefits and uses of technology.George Schussel 1998 Computer Entrepreneur Award Recipient
IEEE Computer Society. Retrieved December 21, 2010.
Schussel has authored the 1985 book ''Data Management: Past, present and future'' (Critical technology report), as well as co-authored the 1994 book ''Rightsizing Information Systems (Professional Reference)''. He has also authored or co-authored over 100 articles or columns in leading computer industry journals such as ''
Computerworld ''Computerworld'' (abbreviated as CW) is an ongoing decades old professional publication which in 2014 "went digital." Its audience is information technology (IT) and business technology professionals, and is available via a publication website ...
'',
Datamation ''Datamation'' is a computer magazine that was published in print form in the United States between 1957 and 1998,
, Client Server Today and Data Based Advisor. During his time at DCI, Schussel was credited as having consulted major clients such as
Cullinet Cullinet was a software company whose products included the database management system IDMS and the integrated software package Goldengate. In 1989, the company was bought by Computer Associates. Cullinet was headquartered at 400 Blue Hill Drive ...
, Computer Associates, Revelation Technologies,
Hewlett Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. HP developed and provided a wide variety of hardware components ...
,
Sybase Sybase, Inc. was an enterprise software and services company. The company produced software to manage and analyze information in relational databases, with facilities located in California and Massachusetts. Sybase was acquired by SAP in 2010; ...
, AT&T/NCR, DEC, Sequent Computer Systems,
Borland Borland Software Corporation was a computer technology company founded in 1983 by Niels Jensen, Ole Henriksen, Mogens Glad and Philippe Kahn. Its main business was the development and sale of software development and software deployment product ...
and IBM. In 1998, Schussel was a recipient of the IEEE Computer Society's ''Computer Entrepreneur'' award for his important contributions to the computing industry and profession as an entrepreneurial leader, advisor, and member. Other recipients of the Computer Entrepreneur award that year were
Bill Gates William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of Microsoft, along with his late childhood friend Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions ...
,
Paul Allen Paul Gardner Allen (January 21, 1953 – October 15, 2018) was an American business magnate, computer programmer, researcher, investor, and philanthropist. He co-founded Microsoft Corporation with childhood friend Bill Gates in 1975, which h ...
,
Steve Jobs Steven Paul Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American entrepreneur, industrial designer, media proprietor, and investor. He was the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Apple; the chairman and majority shareholder of Pixar; a ...
, and
Steve Wozniak Stephen Gary Wozniak (; born August 11, 1950), also known by his nickname "Woz", is an American electronics engineer, computer programmer, philanthropist, inventor, and technology entrepreneur. In 1976, with business partner Steve Jobs, he c ...
. Schussel was also the recipient of the ''Outstanding Industrial Engineer of the Year award'' from the
Institute of Industrial Engineers The Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE), formerly the Institute of Industrial Engineers, is a professional society dedicated solely to the support of the industrial engineering profession and individuals involved with improving q ...
. Additionally, Schussel was a fellow of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...
, and had CDP certification from the Data Processing Management Association.


Background/education

Schussel received his bachelor's degree from the
University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...
in physics and mathematics in 1961. Afterwards, he was accepted into
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
, and there received his master's degree in applied mathematics and computer science in 1962. In 1966 he received his doctorate from
Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...
in marketing and computer science. After graduation, he spent time lecturing and held a faculty appointment at the
University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...
, Harvard, MIT, and the
University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and la ...
. Prior to founding DCI in 1983, Schussel was Vice President and CIO at the American Mutual Group of insurance companies in
Wakefield, Massachusetts Wakefield is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, incorporated in 1812 and located about north-northwest of Downtown Boston. Wakefield's population was 27,090 at the 2020 census. Wakefield offers ...
. There he was the senior manager for the administration of a multimillion-dollar computer budget and 200 full-time personnel handling all data processing for the American Mutual Group.


DCI

George Schussel was the founder, as well as the chairman of Digital Consulting Institute (DCI), which was started in 1982 in his
Lynnfield, Massachusetts Lynnfield is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. At the 2020 census, the town population was 13,000. Lynnfield initially consisted of two distinct villages with a single governing body. Lynnfield Center comprises mostly ...
, home.Six degrees of celebration The extraordinary story of one family's gift to MIT
.
MIT Sloan School of Management The MIT Sloan School of Management (MIT Sloan or Sloan) is the business school of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT Sloan offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree programs, ...
. Retrieved December 21, 2010.
As of 1998, DCI was the largest American-owned information systems conference and trade show company, holding small to large seminars across the world intended for professional audiences. As chairman, Schussel forecasted industry trends as well as identified new fields of opportunity for DCI trade shows. His input was crucial in the company's compounded growth rate of 30% per year through the 1990s. DCI's revenue was generated from ticket sales to participants who attended their seminars, trade shows, and other events, as well as from the contracting and selling of booth space to vendors participating in their shows. DCI also ran trade show events for other companies such as Sybase, IBM and Microsoft.


Tax dispute

In 2001, the IRS began an investigation of the tax accounting of DCI for the 1995 year, a period during which Schussel had been company CEO. By 2004, the IRS had decided that DCI had not been in compliance with US tax laws for its international business. DCI's position, as supported by tax counsel, was that its tax reporting on international income had been handled in accordance with US laws and in much the same manner as other companies such as Cisco Systems, Apple, IBM and AIG, which used foreign subsidiaries to hold assets. In 2004, George Schussel was charged by the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts with conspiracy and
tax evasion Tax evasion is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to reduce the taxp ...
. By 2007, unable to agree on these tax issues, Schussel was individually tried for tax evasion. As of 2017, all issues, both civil and criminal, resulting from this case had been settled.


Charity

In March 2000, Schussel was recognized in the
MIT Sloan School of Management The MIT Sloan School of Management (MIT Sloan or Sloan) is the business school of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT Sloan offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree programs, ...
alumni magazine for his philanthropic contributions towards MIT. In 1998 Schussel donated money to MIT Sloan for the endowment of a Professorship of Management Science chair. Currently this chair is held by Erik Brynjolfsson whose book ‘Race Against the Machine’ was CIO Insight's No. 1 pick for the top 10 IT-Business Books of 2011. Schussel has also served on the Dean's Leadership Council at the MIT Sloan School. Although Schussel is not an alumnus of MIT, while a graduate student at Harvard, the classes he took at MIT gave him an early foundation in computer storage and retrieval techniques, which later proved valuable as he became expert in database technology. In addition, Schussel's family members held six degrees from the school, while one of his daughters met her husband there. Beginning in 2016, the Schussels created the Schussel Family Fund which provides research funds to the Weinstock Laboratory of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. A primary goal of the laboratory is to understand and develop clinical treatments for T-cell lymphomas. In 2017, George and Sandra became members of DFCI's Joint Visiting Committee on Basic Science. Additional funds have gone towards supporting research at the Smilow Cancer Hospital on T-cell lymphomas.


Prison Justice for America (PJA)

In 2013 Schussel founded the web site Prison Justice for America as a non-profit public service. The site launched with over 250 articles on the subject of criminal justice as practiced in the USA. Over the course of four years, PJA connected mentors with those seeking assistance on their reintegration into free society. The United States incarcerates a higher percentage of its citizens than any other country in the world, and most individuals leaving the criminal justice system continue to suffer discrimination as they attempt to re-enter society. PJA's belief was that the whole approach of "tough on crime" had failed American society, and the goal was to support individuals to re-enter society as useful productive citizens. Over 100 individuals received personalized help and advice and in 2017 the site was shuttered.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schussel, George 1941 births Living people American businesspeople Harvard Business School alumni People from Lynnfield, Massachusetts