Frank Grunwald,
IDSA
I came to the USA in 1951 (after escaping from communist Czechoslovakia in the fall of 1949 and living in England till April of 1951). I finished high school and graduated from Pratt in 1956. My first job was with General Electric, where I worked on clocks/timers (Telechron, Framingham, Mass.1956-58) with Bill Judson and later in the Housewares Division (Bridgeport, Connecticut, 1958-60) with Don MacFarland. This was an interesting time at GE because we tried to be very innovative and unique in everything we did. In 1960 GE formed the new Home Entertainment/Consumer Electronics Division in Syracuse, New York. Here I worked with Dick Montmeat and later Ray Ryder (1960-67).
The 60's were exciting, I designed the first generation of solid state TVs and the first generation of portable color TVs. At GE/Syracuse, I also spent more than a year in Product Planning, which expanded my knowledge of the business (and the business world in general). In 1967 I moved to Philco Ford where I held the position of Director of Design for Consumer Electronics (1967-75) with Bob Munz. In early '75, Henry Ford ll and his board of directors decided to go out of the consumer electronics business, so I was forced to look for another position (I remember that one of my interviews was with Carroll Gantz at Black and Decker in the spring of '75 and Carroll told me that I should have his job).
I re-joined the General Electric Company in May of 1975 with a position in TV Product Management (this was in Portsmouth, Virginia) and later as Manager of Potable TV and Video Systems design. In 1987 GE purchased RCA and I moved to Indianapolis where I have been in design management for the last 14 years, currently as Manager of Global Design and Design Research.
My favorite diversion from the office is spending and sharing my design experiences with students and I have visited many design schools and lectured on everything from 3D form analysis to product development. My wife Barbara and I live on a lake outside of Indianapolis. My favorite pastime is music (both, classical and jazz), practicing/playing the piano and photography. I am also in process of restoring my 1969 Porsche, a car which I have owned and driven since 1979.