1967 — onward · Canandaigua, New York
Fifty years inside the machine.
Brian L. Pitre has founded companies, run sales forces, and sold the computers of each decade — IBM mainframes, minicomputers, personal computers, the commercial internet, and drone training.
The record is a chain of promotions and startups, not a single product. Each stop sits on the hardware of its decade.
- In the industry
- 50+
- years, as he records it
- Founded
- 6
- companies, founder or co-founder
1967–1976
The machine room
IBM mainframes
At Graphic Controls he moved from computer operator to programmer, systems analyst, and project manager. The machines were IBM 1401, 1440, 360, and 370 systems. The work was payroll, finance, and manufacturing.
Continue1976–1982
Out of the computer room
Minicomputers
Data General, then a company of his own, then Prime Computer. He sold minicomputers into engineering, education, government, and business, and managed the Upstate New York branch at Prime.
Continue1982–1987
Design on the screen
CAD / CAM
Scientific Calculations made electronic-design software and, in 1984, sat on the INC 500. He then co-founded Cygnet Group to distribute personal-computer CAD/CAM tools.
Continue1987–1993
The account and the dictionary
Personal computers
Wang Laboratories put him on the Eastman Kodak account worldwide. Microlytics, a Xerox venture, licensed spell checkers, thesauri, and translators to Microsoft, Apple, Claris, and Lotus.
Continue1993–2016
Direct response, then the network
The commercial internet
He licensed data-compression software, sold the Kap Strap hat retainer, and built dockside.net. SMART Internet Marketing — email, surveys, sweepstakes, and tracking — was used by more than fifty organizations.
Continue2013 onward
Teaching the aircraft
Drones
SkyOp writes drone-training courseware, licenses it to partners, and teaches it directly. The classroom photograph shows him leading Introduction to sUAS.
Continue
Selected ventures
All companiesJanuary 2013 onward
SkyOp LLC
Managing Member & Co-Founder
The résumé, current as of September 2020, names him Managing Member and Co-Founder from January 2013 onward. SkyOp develops drone-training courseware, licenses it to partners, and delivers it to end users.
February 1995 – February 2016
dockside.net Inc.
President & Founder
SMART Internet Marketing, a suite of internet tools for mass email, surveys, sweepstakes, and marketing tracking.
March 1982 – June 1985
Scientific Calculations, Inc.
Director of Sales — North America
Reported directly to the president as part of senior management. Scientific Calculations was an industry leader in CAD/CAM products for electronic design automation.
United States Army · 1968–1971
Service, then back to the machine room.
Cryptographic equipment repair, a Top Secret clearance with crypto access, and Vietnam in 1969 and 1970. The years sit inside the Graphic Controls career as military leave.
Military service