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Technology Stocks : DELL: Facts, Stats, News and Analysis -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: jbn3 who wrote (228)	12/7/1998 12:55:00 PM
From: jbn3	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 335

Dell matures as corporate citizen" Sunday, November 1, 1998 -Part I- from Austin American-Statesman, Sunday, November 1, page H1 $13 million arts gift reflects awareness of community role by Jerry Mahoney, American-Statesman Staff One afternoon in early September, 10 wealthy Central Texans met in Mayor Kirk Watson's law offices on the seventh floor of the Littlefield Building downtown for an update on a major arts project. Sipping Diet Coke and bottled water at a stone-and-redwood conference table, the five Dell Computer Corp. executives and their wives listened politely as supporters talked about architectural designs, fund raising and other issues. The couples already had pledged to give more than $13 million from their personal fortunes to help build the Austin Museum of Art, a gift that was announced last week (note: end of October). Now they were hearing about another project. As they listened, interjecting questions and suggestion, the group exchanged jokes and laughed together like close friends, Watson recalled last week. At one point, Susan Dell, wife of chief executive Michael Dell, teased Angela Topfer, who is married to vice chairman Mort Topfer, for her habit of taking notes. But what most impressed Watson as he watched from the back of the room was the way husbands and wives touched each other and held hands. "There was a kind of spontaneous joy in them," Watson said. "The contact between husband and wife while they were talking about 'real' money struck me. There was almost a closeness between husband and wife stemming from their ability to do good." While the $13 million museum gift signals Dell's arrival as a pre-eminent benefactor of the the arts in central Texas, the September meeting provides a glimpse of the Round Rock company's unusual approach to giving as it dons the civic mantle that big corporations are expected to wear. With more than 14,500 workers in Austin and Round Rock, Dell is not only the largest private employer in Central Texas but by far the largest company ever founded in this region. On its journey to No. 3 in worldwide computer sales, Dell has also become the most profitable of the major personal-computer makers. Along the way, the meteoric rise of Dell stock enriched Dell executives and many other employees. "Clearly, we've all benefited greatly from Dell's success, and that carries a responsibility on us to be involved in the community," said Tom Green, a Dell senior vice president and chairman of the Dell Foundation. "And we're happy to do that." Indeed, while Susan Dell has been particularly open about the responsibility she feels to share her good fortune, executives whose interests help form Dell's culture seem excited about their role in shaping the Austin area's future. "Austin is poised on the verge of greatness," said Tom Meredith, Dell's senior vice president and chief financial officer. "There is a convergence of (opportunities), that if the Austin leadership and others really embrace, we can fundamentally change the quality of life for the people of Austin." (more)