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RANDY SCHILLING:
FROM GO-CARTS TO MICROSOFT
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By Christine Imbs
To say Randy Schilling is successful
is like saying Donald Trump is a little
bit narcissistic. Both are extreme
understatements.
Trump of course is “The Donald.” Nothing more needs to be said. Schilling on the other hand is president, CEO and founder of Quilogy, a St. Charles-based, $36 million nationally recognized regional systems integrator with 14 offices and over 260 employees nationwide. And it all began in 1992 with a one-man office and a $5,000 personal investment. Not bad for someone who really wanted to be a veterinarian.
“It’s true,” Schilling says laughing. “But my dad was a test engineer for McDonnell-Douglas, and before that he was a door-to-door TV repairman. He had all these tubes and electronic stuff in the basement on his work bench. And I was fascinated by it.”
As a kid, Schilling says he was always trying to figure out how things work. It seems he also tried to make them better. While other boys just built go-carts, Schilling built the ultimate go-cart. It had bicycle wheels on the back and lawn mower wheels on the front and was fitted with make-shift headlight. “We raced them at night so we took some batteries and a flashlight bulb and rigged a light so we could see better. We called it the ‘wheelchair go-cart,’” he says. “It was the fastest
go-cart around.”
By age 15, Schilling had progressed to automobiles much to his mother’s dismay. He bought a 1965 Chevy pick-up truck that he says nearly got both him and his father thrown out of the house. “I paid about $300 for it, and it was in pretty bad shape. My dad was with me at the time. My mom was not real happy,” he explains. “When I got it inspected they needed several sheets of paper just to list what was wrong with it! I broke open a lot of knuckles working on that thing. I still have it.”
By the time he reached college, Schilling had forgotten about being a veterinarian,
ending up with a Bachelor of Science
degree in electrical engineering from the University of Missouri-Columbia. Fresh out of Mizzou, he landed a job as an electrical engineer with Illinois Power. As it turned out, it was a direct path to his IT consulting business.
“PCs were just coming out and we had two for a department of about 200 engineers,” Schilling says. “I had taken some computer classes, so I started developing a data base of the information we collected, so I could find it more easily.”
His innovation gained credibility after a generator went out in the middle of August. He was able to locate a critical part with little effort. “After a day or so of looking for a relay, my boss finally asked me if I could locate one using my data base,” Schilling says. “I found an exact match in a non-critical substation. We had been buying electricity from Union Electric, so this saved us a bunch of money.”
Since that time, Schilling has become an expert in helping businesses solve problems through the use of emerging technology. He and his staff at Quilogy service about 350 clients annually, and do about 750 consulting engagements. They are also one of three Microsoft National System Integrators, and have an office located in the middle of Microsoft’s campus in Seattle.
“This helps us keep close tabs on
what’s coming down the pike,” Schilling
comments. “We have a fabulous relationship with Microsoft. It’s been a key partner since the beginning.”
As for the future, Schilling says he hopes
to take Quilogy global. “Today you have to
be global in terms of your business model,”
he comments.
And what about his dreams of becoming a veterinarian? “My daughter is crazy about animals,” he says laughing. “Who knows? Maybe she’ll be the veterinarian in the family.”
TALKINGPOINTS
BORN: St. Charles, Mo.
FAMILY: Wife, Sibby; 3 sons and a daughter.
EDUCATION: BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Missouri-Columbia; MBA from University of Illinois-Springfield.
HOBBIES: Runs about 20 miles a week, and bikes.
Listens to: Pod casts. He recommends “This Week in Technology.”
BOOKS: “Good to Great” by Jim Collins; “Undaunted Courage” by Stephen Ambrose; “The World is Flat” by Thomas Friedman; “It’s Not About the Bike” by Lance Armstrong.
IMPRESSIONS OF ST. LOUIS: It has strong Midwestern values and a work ethic you don’t see in other areas. And although we often tend to think in terms of the Cardinals and Rams, it also has amazing parks systems, trails and cultural opportunities. |
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