Oral history interview with Ann Hardy

Abstract

Tymshare, Inc., senior executive Ann Hardy discusses her prior work on IBM Stretch, and at Lawrence Radiation Laboratory (later renamed Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory), before focusing on Tymshare, where she was one of the first employees at start-up Tymshare and became one of the highest ranking women executives of a major IT firm in the 1970s. Her interview details the technical, strategic, and organizational history of the company—including her programming effort with Verne Van Vlear to get the start-up’s initial time-sharing system operational. The interview also offers perspectives on TYMNET and Tymshare’s acquisitions.