The TI Alumni Association welcomed Chuck Eisemann as a life member at its annual meeting May 22 at Richardson’s new Eisemann Center.
Chuck, a one-time TIer turned entrepreneur, is the benefactor for the Charles W. Eisemann Center for the Performing Arts and Corporate Presentations. “I have a high regard for TI and TIers,” Chuck said. “TI made my success in business possible.” Chuck said Texas Instruments was “the place to work” in 1966 when he signed on as a Semiconductor Division area administrator. TI was a leader in most areas and especially in technology. “As a new MBA, I had the great opportunity to work with some very bright people and some of TI’s leaders,” he recalled.
As he worked his way up in TI, Chuck transferred to Corporate Staff in 1968 and revamped the company’s expatriate procedures. After that, he had the pleasure to work with C.J. “Tommy” Thomsen, a TI director, on the stock options program, with Jim Fischer on future plant locations, and on a special project to revitalize the TI Profit Sharing Program. “One of my most exhaustive studies,” he said, “was of all developing countries to locate those with the most favorable conditions for future plant sites.”
In Chuck’s last TI assignment, as corporate director of Human Research and Development, he was responsible for human resource research in more than 30 nations. “TI gave me the experience to go on my own and found the consulting company that later provided the resources to acquire a financial services business,” Chuck said. “In North Texas, TI, along with Collins Radio, has given birth to what is now the Telecom Corridor®, with hundreds of spin-offs. TI is also a great example of what a good corporate citizen is. I will always owe a debt of gratitude to the great people with whom I had the privilege of working.”
Chuck left TI in 1974 to found Industrial Relations International, Inc., and served as chairman and president of the management-consulting firm until 2000. Richardson-based IRI develops programs in the areas of multilingual opinion surveys, customer satisfaction, employee relations and management training for corporate clients worldwide. After Chuck donated IRI to Communities Foundation of Texas, he continued on as president and chairman until Gene Duckro acquired the company.
Chuck is still on retainer to IRI to assist in any way he can. Chuck was elected to the board of Canyon Creek National Bank in 1977 and became the controlling shareholder in 1986 and was elected board chairman. He also chaired Chaparral Bancshares, Inc., the CCNB parent company. Chuck served on the CCNB board until the bank merged with Bank of Texas. After the merger, Chuck was asked to join the Bank of Texas board of directors. His office is at the bank in Richardson. A San Antonio native, Chuck holds bachelor and master’s degrees in business administration from the University of Texas at Austin. There, he became interested in the arts and was a leader in organizations supporting the arts community. In the Dallas area, he is a long-term arts supporter, starting when he first moved here in 1966 with membership in the 500 Inc. He was a Richardson Symphony director and organized, produced and directed the first three “Sounds of Freedom” patriotic Flag Day concerts in Richardson. He and his wife, Ann, have lived in Richardson since 1971. Their son, Brian, is a student at the UT Austin.
Chuck is in his seventh year as a Richardson Chamber of Commerce director, and also serves on the Stakeholder Advisory Board of Richardson’s Telecom Corridor® STARTech high tech accelerator corporation. “Retirement is elusive, and that is the way I like it,” Chuck said. “I have many other activities, including vice chairman of the Richardson Chamber of Commerce.” He is a member of the Metroplex Technology Business Council and a certified mentor with STARTech. “Other than being married to a wonderful person, my wife Ann, being associated with Richardson’s new performing arts hall and being named Richardson’s Citizen of the Year.