2008.04.24: April 24, 2008: Headlines: COS - Mali: Business: Computers: Internet: Engineering: Union Leader: Mali RPCV Peter Spiro scaled the corporate ladder at the Microsoft Corporation

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Mali: Peace Corps Mali : Peace Corps Mali: Newest Stories: 2008.04.24: April 24, 2008: Headlines: COS - Mali: Business: Computers: Internet: Engineering: Union Leader: Mali RPCV Peter Spiro scaled the corporate ladder at the Microsoft Corporation

By Admin1 (admin) (ppp-70-135-9-78.dsl.okcyok.swbell.net - 70.135.9.78) on Sunday, April 27, 2008 - 12:21 pm: Edit Post

Mali RPCV Peter Spiro scaled the corporate ladder at the Microsoft Corporation

Mali RPCV Peter Spiro scaled the corporate ladder at the Microsoft Corporation

Peter Spiro chose to donate $50,000 each to the Seattle YWCA, to the University of Wisconsin -- where he took advanced degrees in forestry and computer studies -- and to an environmental preservation effort in Seattle called "Mountains to Sound Greenway." Then he looked homeward. It stayed with him when he and his wife, the former April Mooers, also Central '74, served in the Peace Corps in Mali. It stayed with him throughout his meandering scholastic and professional sojourn -- with notable stops at Wisconsin and the Digital Equipment Corporation -- and even during his 14-year tenure at Microsoft, where he is a confidante of company president Steve Ballmer and founder Bill Gates. "I actually mentored Steve and now he's the boss," Peter laughed, "but at Microsoft, I'm a Technical Fellow and this Technical Fellow thing is equivalent to being a vice president. There are only 15 or 18 of us, and we can tell Steve anything we want. "It's pretty remarkable when you think about it," said Peter, whose folks, Nick and Mary Spiro, were co-owners of the Goldenrod Restaurant. "I'm a kid who started out at the Manchester Boys and Girls Club. Now I'm a big shot at Microsoft."

Mali RPCV Peter Spiro scaled the corporate ladder at the Microsoft Corporation

Microsoft's Manchester link

By JOHN CLAYTON
New Hampshire Union Leader Staff

Thursday, Apr. 24, 2008

IT TOOK PETER SPIRO years to scale the corporate ladder at the Microsoft Corporation out in Seattle, but even from that lofty vantage point -- and at a distance of 3,000 miles -- he hasn't lost sight of his hometown.

He proved it this week when he made a $50,000 donation to the Manchester Boys and Girls Club's ongoing capital campaign.

That fund-raising effort was front-page news back in October when another local fellow made a million dollar donation to kick-start the campaign, and if you don't know the identity of that other local fellow -- it was comedian Adam Sandler -- well ... you need to start reading the paper more closely.

Now, a little more than six months later, Peter Spiro's gift represents another major milestone for the capital campaign. His donation just pushed the total past the $5 million mark -- there's more than a million still to go -- but as much as this is a story about the money that he's donating, it's also about the way in which Peter came by that money.

Among his more recent projects at Microsoft, Peter was the leader of a team that created something called SQL Server 7.0.

Not bad for a guy who studied forestry.
John Clayton column logo

I won't even try to explain how that SQL product has made the world a better place for Microsoft and its users -- they tell me the database revolutionized the industry by introducing an "ease-of-use mindset which challenged existing database strategies," whatever that means -- but the upshot of it all is that Peter's crew won a big award.

It's called a Technical Recognition Award, and it is a very big deal at the world's biggest computer company.

It's big enough for Microsoft to take out full-page advertisements in the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times to salute Peter and his teammates, those being Dave Campbell, Hal Berenson and Paul Flessner.
April 24, 2008 Peter Spiro60px

Peter Spiro

The recognition is nice, but there are more tangible benefits that come with the award. Each winner receives a custom-made trophy and an Atmos clock, but more importantly, in keeping with Microsoft's renowned history of philanthropy, each winner receives a large sum of cash -- $200,000 each -- to distribute to non-profit, charitable enterprises.

Peter Spiro chose to donate $50,000 each to the Seattle YWCA, to the University of Wisconsin -- where he took advanced degrees in forestry and computer studies -- and to an environmental preservation effort in Seattle called "Mountains to Sound Greenway." Then he looked homeward.

"The last time I was in Manchester," he said, "Nick Vailas and Jim Truncellito brought me down to visit the Boys Club. The truth is, I have lots of guys coming to me from non-profits, but when I went to the Boys Club, the place looked exactly like it did 30 years ago. I was stunned at how it seemed to be in a time warp.

"I know they're doing a lot of new and better programs for the kids," he added, "but you could tell they could use some help. It's still a wonderful, functioning place for kids." Peter was once one of those kids.

"I spent a lot of time there," he laughed, "summer day-camps when I was little, then in junior high and high school, we were always there, a bunch of Greek kids from the neighborhood, playing basketball, ping-pong, bumper pool."

"Then when I was a junior at Central," he added, "Jimmy Vailas and I didn't make the varsity basketball team. We were the last two to get cut, so we joined the Boys Club team and we won the state championship. I thought it was going to be the worst year of my life and, because of the Boy's Club, it turned into one of the best.

"Senior year, we both made the Central varsity and we won the state championship in '74, but you know what? It wasn't as much fun as that year at the Boys Club."

That memory stuck with him when he studied at Colorado State University.

It stayed with him when he and his wife, the former April Mooers, also Central '74, served in the Peace Corps in Mali. It stayed with him throughout his meandering scholastic and professional sojourn -- with notable stops at Wisconsin and the Digital Equipment Corporation -- and even during his 14-year tenure at Microsoft, where he is a confidante of company president Steve Ballmer and founder Bill Gates.

"I actually mentored Steve and now he's the boss," Peter laughed, "but at Microsoft, I'm a Technical Fellow and this Technical Fellow thing is equivalent to being a vice president. There are only 15 or 18 of us, and we can tell Steve anything we want.

"It's pretty remarkable when you think about it," said Peter, whose folks, Nick and Mary Spiro, were co-owners of the Goldenrod Restaurant. "I'm a kid who started out at the Manchester Boys and Girls Club. Now I'm a big shot at Microsoft."

But for how long?

At 52, Peter's about to retire, but in a most unorthodox fashion.

(Trust me. I know a little bit about this).

"I've worked out a program with Microsoft where I'll work about a third of the time," he said. "They'll pay me a nominal amount, give me an office, a computer and some health benefits and I can come in and work whenever I want.

"I'm taking the summer off to bicycle the length of Norway with April and the kids, Emma, Chelsea and Ethan, so private time will take up a third of my time, and then I'll spend a third working for a nonprofit.

"I figure I've got 10 good years of passion and energy left," he added, "and I don't want to use it all up in the corporate world. I have a friend in Zambia working on an AIDs program, so I'm going there in October. After that, I can look around and say, 'Where else does the world need help?' "

Help was needed in Manchester. Peter Spiro came through.

.

John Clayton is the author of several books on Manchester and New Hampshire, including the recently released "You Know You're in New Hampshire When ..." His e-mail is jclayton@unionleader.com




Links to Related Topics (Tags):

Headlines: April, 2008; Peace Corps Mali; Directory of Mali RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Mali RPCVs; Business; Computers; Internet; Engineering





When this story was posted in April 2008, this was on the front page of PCOL:


Contact PCOLBulletin BoardRegisterSearch PCOLWhat's New?

Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers RSS Feed
Dodd vows to filibuster Surveillance Act Date: October 27 2007 No: 1206 Dodd vows to filibuster Surveillance Act
Senator Chris Dodd vowed to filibuster the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that would grant retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies that helped this administration violate the civil liberties of Americans. "It is time to say: No more. No more trampling on our Constitution. No more excusing those who violate the rule of law. These are fundamental, basic, eternal principles. They have been around, some of them, for as long as the Magna Carta. They are enduring. What they are not is temporary. And what we do not do in a time where our country is at risk is abandon them."

Peace Corps News Peace Corps Library Peace corps History RPCV Directory Sign Up

March 2, 2008: This Month's Top Stories Date: March 2 2008 No: 1236 March 2, 2008: This Month's Top Stories
Bush Meets with PCVs in Ghana 20 Feb
Jack Vaughn writes: Candidates 'discover' Peace Corps 28 Feb
Dan Lavin is going back to Sierra Leone 25 Feb
Peace Corps Returns to Rwanda 19 Feb
Doug Roberts returns to Vanuatu where son died 17 Feb
Paul H. Johnson writes: Criticism of Peace Corps 12 Feb
Doctoral Fellowship created for RPCVs at UC Berkeley 11 Feb
Jessi Griffin recovering after accident in Mozambique 10 Feb
Super delegates like Pat Waak are super important 6 Feb
Peace Corps pulls its volunteers out of Kenya 5 Feb
Robert Whittemore starts African Film Festival 4 Feb
Heidi Vogt writes: Modernity arrives via Cellphone 1 Feb
Bush's PC pledge nothing more than hot air 31 Jan
P. F. Kluge speaks in Saipan 28 Jan
600 RPCVs work in NY City Schools 27 Jan
Jim Walsh will be missed in Congress 25 Jan
Wisconsin RPCVs sponsor Freeze for Food 23 Jan
Maria Shriver reflects on Sargent Shriver 21 Jan
Mae Jemison says King's dream is call to action 20 Jan
André-Guy Soh remembers John Granville 16 Jan
Gaddi Vasquez addresses Placentia Rotary 16 Jan

New: More Stories from January and February 2008

What is Wrong at the US Embassy in Bolivia? Date: February 10 2008 No: 1227 What is Wrong at the US Embassy in Bolivia?
Last summer Peace Corps Inspector General David Kotz cited the lack of cooperation from the US embassy in Bolivia in the search for missing Peace Corps Volunteer Walter Poirier III. Now a member of the US Embassy Staff in Bolivia is accused of asking Peace Corps Volunteers "to basically spy" on Cubans and Venezuelans in the country. Could US Ambassador Philip S.Goldberg please explain what is going on at the embassy that he has been running in La Paz since 2006?



Read the stories and leave your comments.








Some postings on Peace Corps Online are provided to the individual members of this group without permission of the copyright owner for the non-profit purposes of criticism, comment, education, scholarship, and research under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. Government copyright laws and they may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner. Peace Corps Online does not vouch for the accuracy of the content of the postings, which is the sole responsibility of the copyright holder.

Story Source: Union Leader

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Mali; Business; Computers; Internet; Engineering

PCOL41251
50


Add a Message


This is a public posting area. Enter your username and password if you have an account. Otherwise, enter your full name as your username and leave the password blank. Your e-mail address is optional.
Username:  
Password:
E-mail: