In 1957, Ray McLeod was faced with a big decision. He had just received his MBA from Texas Christian University and was looking for a promising career path. He had job offers from Lederle Laboratories to be a pharmaceutical sales representative, and from IBM to enter their computer sales training program. Pharmaceuticals sounded very professional, calling on doctors. Ray didn't know much about IBM at the time, only recalling seeing some large gray machines with the letters "IBM" on them while he was in the Air Force. Something told Ray to take the IBM route. It was like the relative's advice to Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate: "The future is plastics." That decision proved to be the right one. If he had not made it you would not be reading his MIS book.
During the past 40 years Ray has seen the computer field grow beyond anyone's expectations during the early years. When he was assigned to the San Antonio IBM office in December of 1957 there were four computers in the city and, yet, some of the sales reps were already worrying about what would happen when the market got saturated. Ray worked for IBM for almost eight years, learning about the computer field and several industries — insurance and manufacturing to name two. Although he was a successful salesperson, making four annual quotas in three years, he was more attracted to the systems side of the business and went to work for one of his customers, a management consulting firm in Dallas. After a while, that job turned out to be more sales than consulting so he joined his old IBM manager at Recognition Equipment, Incorporated, a manufacturer of optical character recognition machines. He had jobs as sales manager for the southeast part of the US and as manager of marketing administration, making up the annual marketing plan.
During the late 1960s many people began questioning what they were really contributing to society and Ray decided that he could do more in education, something that had been in the back of his mind since TCU. He made a list of colleges in Colorado (if you're going to start over you might as well do it in a nice spot, right?) and got on the phone. He found a school, Metropolitan State College in Denver, that was desperate. They needed someone the next month, and when school started Ray was there. He taught at Metro while earning a PhD in marketing at the University of Colorado in Boulder and in 1973 returned to TCU as a professor of both marketing and MIS. In 1980 he went to Texas A & M where he could concentrate on MIS, and, most recently, joined the faculty at the University of Texas at Austin as a visiting professor.
During his almost 30 years as a professor Ray has taught over 8,000 students, and his MIS text has probably been used by more students around the world than any other. Just like the IBM decision in 1957, the teaching decision in 1969 proved to be the right one. Ray feels fortunate that he has been able to share his experiences in the computer field with so many students.
Although his classroom responsibilities have always taken top priority, he has been able to conduct research on computer use in business. Most of the projects have been designed to provide information for his MIS text, such as the studies of executive information systems, marketing information systems, and human resources information systems. Articles describing his research have appeared in such journals as California Management Review, Communications of the ACM, and MIS Quarterly. He has also served on the editorial review boards of the Journal of Management Information Systems, Journal of Information Technology Management, and Information Resources Management Journal.
One of Ray's hobbies is sports cars, and after going through a series of English cars — a Jaguar, an MG, and a couple of Triumphs, he is now giving the Italians a chance with an Alfa Romeo. In addition to the driving, Ray also likes to collect things. He collects books and magazines on his two favorite subjects — sports and movies. He is a big Chicago Cubs and Dallas Cowboys fan and is currently working on changing his loyalty from the Texas Aggies to the Texas Longhorns, a task that few have been able to accomplish. His favorite movies are Casablanca, Reds, Educating Rita, and Birdcage. Favorite movie stars are Humphrey Bogart, Marilyn Monroe, Gene Hackman, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Robert De Niro. Maybe some day he will write a book on something other than computers — say, on Marilyn Monroe.
Management Information Systems: A Study of Computer-Based Information Systems 4th Ed.