Oral history interview with Lee Keet

Abstract

In this oral history software entrepreneur Ernest E. (Lee) Keet chronicles his education in programming and engineering at Cornell University, his early work as a salesperson and systems engineer for IBM in White Plains, NY, and his success as founder and CEO of Turnkey Systems, Inc. (TSI). Keet characterizes the heavy "craft" versus the "art" components of computer programming; he discusses the introduction of TSI’s Task/Master, the first commercial telecommunications monitor; and his entrepreneurial efforts in Europe. Keet also delineates his role as a member of the ADAPSO software protection committee, his founding of venture capital firm Vanguard Atlantic in 1984, and his service as a board member for the Keet Foundation, dedicated to the support of people and organizations in the Adirondacks of New York. Other topics include software product pricing, marketing, and women in the software industry as well as competitive relations with IBM. He describes his work at Dun & Bradstreet (D & B) in establishing and managing their software division and his management buyout of parts of this operation. This oral history was co-sponsored by CBI, through a National Science Foundation grant project, "Building a Future for Software History," and the Software History Center in conjunction with the Center's ADAPSO reunion (3 May 2002).