Today we’d like to introduce you to Dick Sanger.
Hi Dick, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I came to Austin because of a grandson, Wynn. That was in 2013. We moved from West Houston and built a David Weekly home in North East Austin where they were building 107 homes.
Vistage contacted me and asked if I would like to be a Group Chair because I had a broad successful career:
As an Executive Officer of 3 Public Fortune 100 companies: RJ Reynolds, Sea Land Corporation and GlaxoSmithKline:
As an Entrepreneur coming to Texas in 1990 to raise $33 million in capital, secure contracts with the 8 Multinational exporting companies including: Dreyfus, ADM, Continental Grain, Pillsbury, International Multifoods, RiceLand.
As Director of Development for Space Center Houston the official Visitor Center of The Johnson Space Center, the crown jewel of NASA; home of the Astronaut Corps and Mission Control. I led the program to raise the $15MM to bring the Shuttle and its carrier 747 97a to a spot right in front of the Center.
I had covered all the experience bases required by Vistage: Fortune 500, Start up and Non Profit.. I launched my first Group in November 2015 and am completing my 10th year as a Vistage Chair
What I enjoy most is finding members like Harlow Russell and helping them build their dreams. Harlow provides a great success story. He took a unique product “Pop-up cards:” and developed a business that provided smiles to his customers’ faces and their customers as well. The Vistage Group provided him guidance as he grew his dream from a great idea to a profitable business.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
ABT (Automatic Bag Handling Terminal) – Raising $33 MM during: a Recession, Shooting War, on a Greenfield Site, involving the International Longshoremen’s Union, Computers, and lastly on the waterfront – how many Red flags do you see? Took 5 years. The First $1 Million almost killed me. I just kept writing checks. Got to $32 million and the financing stopped and I had to fund the last Million. “The world is full of unfulfilled Genius if only they had the money”. You either have it or you do not. Persistence, Persistence, Persistence.
I had negotiated 7 of the required 8 contract and was missing Continental Grain’s $25 MM Contract. I went home the Christmas of 1994 broke and illiquid. Figured I had lost everything. In January I went back for one more time to Minneapolis and stayed in my hotel room for 2 weeks walking back and forth figuring out what I needed to do to get that contract. I succeeded and we closed in Chicago a week later.
RJR in House Bank – RJReynolds sent me to London to build an in-house bank. I worked for more than a year hiring the best from Cambridge and the banking sector to build a dealing room with 7 stations patterned after a bank’s professional dealing room with a 78 button keyboard Station. In September of 1981 I received a call from the Chairman “is that bank thing ready I’d like to highlight it in the RJR World Magazine issue for the 3d Quarter”. I said yes and we had 4 days to start it up..
On a Friday morning end September of 1981 I gathered all my team and advisors and started the bank by taking deposits from RJR Companies around the word and swapping them out to loan funds to others that were short. We also did everyone’s Foreign Exchange. Delighted we all Raised a glass of Veuve Clicquot at noon that day.
But something was wrong.It seemed something was missing. I figured that our entire position was exposed in the Ones (one month). FX and deposits were typically done in one month /30 day increments. The advisors after a number of “I say” all agreed. So at 1:30 on a Quarter’s end Friday I had the dealing room go in and cover all of our transactions on the other side. Do it all again – other side.
At 3 pm the Old lady of Threadneedle Street called and invited me over for coffee at 9:30 Monday morning at the Bank of England. I showed up and the Governor of the Bank of England advised that I had dislocated the English money supply and to please do not do it again! BUBBA the Central Bank of Germany called 2 days later (spot is 2 days hence) with the same message. Seems I had dislocated their money supply as well – the largest central bank on the continent.
Not wishing to be put out of business, I invented odd date swaps, butterfly transactions and other technical placements to even out the impact of large FX deals and swaps. They are in use today by many of the Corporate In-House banks as a matter of practice.
Sea land – The RJR Board brought me back from England as Corporate Treasurer of Sea Land corporation to head up the financial side of the largest public spinoff ever. Sea land from RJR. We became a separate entity in a stock split, if you had 5 shared of RJR (Everyone did) you received a dividend of 1 share of Sea land. We had the largest fleet in the free world 64 vessels. We could determine the price of bunker fuel by where we loaded fuel in he world!
Harold Simmons a Dallas investor (Corporate raider) started buying Sea Land Stock. He kept buying saying he would not get any closer. After he reached 10% we had to do something. We with Dillon Read our Advisors went to the Chancery Court in Delaware and persuaded them to prejudice the then sitting board to decline an offer. If Simmons went above 39% his stock would be diluted back to 8% thru the first issuance of Shareholder rights in the history of the New York Stock Exchange. This was the first Corporate Poison Pill! It leveled the playing field for companies and fundamentally altered corporate finance for the 80’s. Because of his position, he would win control after 2 proxies. 2 years so we had to do something. We ended up selling Sea Land to CSX the largest rail Company in the US making them the largest transportation Company in the world.
Space Center Houston. (SCH) – The Board brought me in as Director of Development to help them raise $14MM in order to acquire a shuttle and display it on top of the 747 used reposition it after a flight. The Company (SCH) was the official visitor center of the Johnson Space Center (JS) the crown jewel in NASA’s crown- home of Mission Control and the Astronaut corps. It was built for $88 MM and opened in 1992.
They expected to have 2 million visitors a year and ended up with about 700,000. The first board meeting must have gone something like this. How many visitors will we have this year? About 600,000. We are toast. We cannot service the debt. So What business are we in? We are an attraction came the answer. Who does that best – Six Flags. They managed to bring in a ringer who had worked for Six Flags. He saved their bacon.
I ended up working for him and the Board. He ran it along the Six flags proven approach – “bring them in the house and they will spend in the yard”. It Worked for 20 years until they need to raise money for the shuttle, not paint the building. No one gives to a ferris wheel I had to change everything to alter the chemistry. We used space to teach and engage kids about STEM. I raised the money by engaging the Astronauts to help and meet with potential investors.- as they are seen as Rock Stars.
National mounted Warefare Foundation – While attending a Round Rock Chamber Council member I was asked by Mike Robinson RR Mayor 1981-87 the man who got Dell to move to Round Rock ($40,000,000 a year in tax revenue for RR) to go to Ft Hood (Ft Cavazos) and meet with Gen Funk the President of the NMWFoundation about their project to build a Museum. They had been working on this 10 years. Based on my Space Center Houston fundraising I saw they were there! I told them to scrub some costs due to cost creep but to then declare victory and build it. It officially opened in February of this year see picture.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Paul Allen and I formed ABT in 1990 a firm designed to rapidly load bags of grain and flower into vessels. He gets the credit for putting the project together and securing the agreements with the manufacturers. My job as a recognized Public Maritime Officer for Sea Land the world’s largest publicly traded shipping company was to raise $33 million and secure the Customers: ADM, Cargill, Pillsbury, Continental grain to name a few. Took 5 years to raise the $33 million. That first Million almost killed me as I was writing checks.
It was patterned after a firm that for 15 years had loaded bags of Sugar in Antwerp. The biggest cost for a bag goods (Breakbulk) exporter was the vessel costs associated with loading. Vessels make money running, not sitting. We cut the loading time by about 2/3ds. This would be reflected in the reduction of the cost to employ the vessel to come to your port, load and then successfully arrive and unload at another port. ABT would provide the lowest cost to export added goods. CIT and Heller Finance were the #1 and #2 financiers of fixed asset businesses in the world. We received $21 million from CIT and $8 million in an equity strip from Heller. I raised the balance some $5 million from individual investors. This innovative project was ranked as the top of 20 creative financing from Investors Monthly in their 1995 Annual Global Competition. We sold it to the Port of lake Charles.
What makes you happy?
Success and Accomplishment
I enjoy my role as a Servant and my whole life. Powerful people have asked me to perform tasks, found and develop companies and make a difference. Each was a promotion. A promotion is doing something that you have never done but someone else believes you can!
Story of my life… I was never the first choice. If I were to write a book about my life it would be called “Second Choice”
I was always too involved with challenges serving as an Executive Officer (SEC Defined term) at 3 publicly traded, industry leading Fortune 100 Companies: R J Reynolds, Sea land Corporation and GlaxoSmithKline.
I missed all 3 sons learning to walk. So I decided I would do better and be present for their kids. Grandkids are a second chance. They give me happiness.
I am slowly figuring it out.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://dicksanger.com
- Facebook: Dick Sanger
- LinkedIn: https://linkedIn.com/in/dicksanger
