Frank was an associate professor in management at Houston Baptist University, director of HBU’s Human Resource Institute, president of his own consulting firm, and an author and publisher. He was also on the adjunct graduate faculties of the University of Houston and The University of Texas at Austin. He conducted management and executive courses at Rice University, Texas A&M University, Oklahoma State University, University of Houston and University of Oklahoma. He had spoken at International Conferences in Canada, France, and the United States including Puerto Rico. All in all, he had well over one hundred major presentations to his credit.
Frank had four careers. The first was as an Army officer. During 13 years of active duty, he was involved in missile and warhead R&D, command and staff leadership, international relations, and officer education. He left active duty as a Major and remained in the Reserves, retiring as a Colonel with 30 years service. He was awarded the Legion of Merit and the Meritorious Service Medal, the second and third highest peacetime Army decorations, for his USAR leadership.
Frank’s second career was in industry; the major part spanned almost 20 years in a variety of challenging assignments with Exxon Corporation and Exxon USA. His continuing role was that of interverner when organizational crises were brewing. He introduced minorities to new areas of the company in the Sixties; he then upgraded the entire company’s supervisor and manager skills. He elevated assignments for women in the Seventies and introduced industry’s quality and productivity management practices to colleges and universities while on assignment with the Exxon Education Foundation. He then dealt with environmental development. He retired from Exxon USA in 1983 and next became vice president of a unique consulting company, Thoughtware, Inc., (an Alexander Proudfoot Company) which specialized in cutting edge PC software tools for managers and management consultation to major companies.
He launched his third career and own consulting practice in 1985, and had a variety of blue-ribbon clients including Exxon, IBM, Alyeska Pipeline, Transco, Quintana Petroleum, Dresser Industries, Solvay Polymers, Computer Science Corporation, Pratt & Whitney, Department of Agriculture, U.S. EEOC, Department of the Army, City of College Station, University of Houston, and the American Council on Education , to name a few. He specialized in working with senior leaders to assist them in optimizing their organization’s performance. He consulted in Colombia, the Caribbean, France, Canada and Alaska.
His fourth career was as a full-time faculty member at Houston Baptist University, and founding direct of HBU’s Human Resource Institute. Meanwhile, he continued to consult in management issues through his company.
Frank’s book, co-authored with Carl Thor, vice-chairman, American Productivity and Quality Center, is entitled The TQM Trilogy; it is published by the American Management Association. Trilogy has also been published in Portuguese and Korean. His new book on how to be successful in the world of work, Street Smart, (for graduating students and those from diverse backgrounds) is under contract and nearing completion. He has over 40 publications in journals and chapters of books.
Frank had a bachelors degree from Boston College, and two masters degrees from the University of Vermont. His doctorate was from the University of Houston. He lived and worked in Germany and Korea. He was the 1993 Educator of the Year for the Texas Society for Human Resource Management. He was certified for life as a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR). Frank was listed in two editions of Who’s Who in the South and Southwest and four editions of Who’s Who in the World. Memberships included American Psychological Association, Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, American Society for Training and Development (National, Houston), American Compensation Association and Society for Human Resource Management (National, Houston; on National College Relations Council).
That is how you knew him. We knew him simply as “dad.” We will miss him.