Dr. J.R. Beyster, Founder and Chairman
Bob Beyster is the Founder and Chairman of the FED. He oversees the strategic direction of the FED and actively participates in special projects that promote the values and practices that he used to build Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) - the company he founded in 1969 and grew to over $7 billion in annual revenues.
M.A. Beyster, President
Mary Ann Beyster became FED President in 2005, reporting directly to the Chairman. Ms. Beyster is managing numerous programs to promote and advance research on employee-ownership and works directly with early stage and expansion companies to help prepare companies for growth and help maintain the ownership with those who grow their company. She is the principal investigator for DARPA's initiative to facilitate small business technology transition. Previously, Ms. Beyster held management and business development positions at SAIC, CH2MHill, and SRI International, working in a range of fields including energy, environment, water, life sciences, and national security.
Thomas E. Darcy, Trustee
Tom Darcy was an EVP for Strategic Projects after serving as SAIC's CFO for 5 years starting in 2000. He led the finance organization of SAIC during a period of significant reorganization and change and served as chairman of the audit committee of AMSEC. Prior to SAIC, Tom was a partner at Price Waterhouse, where he worked for over 25 years. His clients comprised of public, venture capital backed, private companies, and numerous entities that completed initial public offerings. Tom is a member of the American Institute of CPA's and the California Society of CPA's and is on the Board of Directors of the College of Business Administration at SDSU, the Campanile Foundation at SDSU, the SDSU's School of Accountancy, and the YMCA of San Diego County.
Steven P. Fisher, Trustee
Steve Fisher is the Treasurer of SAIC and oversees the Treasury Operations, Capital Markets, Retirement Programs and Accounts Receivable functions. He has approximately 20 years of financial and operational experience in technology-based business including overseeing capital structure and strategic financial planning, and developing and implementing a spectrum of equity based incentive programs that foster entrepreneurial business activities and employee ownership based management practices.
Ray Smilor, Executive Vice President
Ray Smilor is the Executive Director of the Beyster Institute, Rady School of Management, University of California San Diego. He was the President of the FED from 2000 to 2004 during the time the Beyster Institute transitioned into UCSD, and led a dramatic expansion of international entrepreneurship programs. Previously, Ray was Vice President of the Kauffman Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.
David Binns, Vice President
David Binns is the Secretary of the FED Board and the Chief Operating Officer of Macfadden, a professional services corporation providing disaster response management services, integrated information technology services, program management services and management consulting services to government agencies, corporations and other organizations. Prior to joining Macfadden, he was an Associate Director for the Beyster Institute where he managed the development of employee ownership consulting and outreach programs. David has been actively involved in efforts to promote the use of employee ownership as a means to facilitate privatization, defense conversion and economic development in several foreign countries.
Our Founder
When he founded Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) in 1969, Dr. J. Robert Beyster could have followed the more traditional American process of closely holding the stock of the company among himself and a few top managers. Instead, he chose from the very beginning to reward the performance of employees with stock ownership.
"Someone who is involved with the company should own a piece of it," says Dr. Beyster. "Those who really perform well are rewarded by having their stock increased. People involved in the company should share in its success."
He believes that as a result of this employee ownership philosophy SAIC has grown into one of the largest and most succesful companies in the world. His belief in employee ownership led him to create the Foundation for Enterprise Development. Dr. Beyster believes that applying his philosophy of shared wealth and responsibility to other organizations can make a real difference in the economic lives of the people everywhere.
SAIC was founded as a scientific consulting firm with a handful of government contracts for nuclear power and nuclear weapons effects study programs. "I was not the brilliant, flash-of-inspiration type of entrepreneur," says Dr. Beyster. "I was more of a persistent, builder type. Rather than having a grand design, we started with some contracts and a few people with ideas, and growth started to snowball."
As SAIC grew, Dr. Beyster fought to preserve the values that had made the early SAIC successful -- employee ownership, entrepreneurship, a flexible and decentralized organization structure, technical excellence, high standards of ethical conduct, and a firm belief in customer service. He retired from the company in 2004.
Dr. Beyster received his B.S.E., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Engineering and Physics from the University of Michigan. He began his career in the early 1950's as a senior scientist at Westinghouse. He then worked as a physicist at Los Alamos National Scientific Laboratory. He joined General Atomic in 1957 as chairman of the Accelerator Physics Department, where his research on neutron thermalization led to the publication of a book entitled Slow Neutron Scattering and Thermalization by Park, Nelkin, Beyster and Wikner. Dr. Beyster has written or co-authored approximately 60 publications and reports.
