John Crooks

Updated 4/25/05

It has been many years since I reflected on my years at Sharon High. The High school experience for most people is very defining; for me it was a real mixed bag. I’m proud to say that I recovered from what was an intellectual and spiritual ‘black hole’ in my life. My high school years and the two years that followed were the culmination for me of what can only be described as a dysfunctional home environment. I’ll leave it at that.

I attended Mass Bay Community College for a year and then transferred to Suffolk University where I earned an undergraduate degree and an MBA. My brief time at Mass Bay also presented the opportunity to meet the woman who would become my wife. Christine Cincotta helped me change my life. The timing was certainly appropriate for me to become motivated and accept values that would establish direction and purpose in my life. However, her role in accepting me for what I was and guiding me to become what I was capable of, was very significant. We have been together for 38 years and will celebrate our 34^th wedding anniversary this September. We are blessed with two wonderful children who have spent most of their formative years in Dallas. Both are SMU graduates and avid golfers. Julie played number one on the women’s team at SMU for four years and achieved ‘All American’ status. Gregory has just launched a career in commercial real estate with Hillwood Development, Ross Perot’s other major commercial enterprise.

My career evolved through several stages, mostly within several high-technology industries:

I worked for Ross Laboratories, a division of Abbott Laboratories, in various sales and marketing positions for seven years, four of which were spent in Columbus Ohio.
I spent four years with Waters Associates in Milford MA before it was sold to Millipore in Bedford. Waters was a leader in the application of ‘Liquid Chromatography’, a major technology for separating and purifying chemical agents.
In 1991 I joined MCI in their Boston office, where I was responsible for managing strategic accounts, before being sent to Washington DC and subsequently to Dallas Texas. I spent ten years coordinating the development and marketing of global voice and data network services used in business applications. I left MCI when it merged with Worldcom.
For the next two years I participated in several startup ventures that were mostly victims of the .net market implosion. I loved the entrepreneurial culture but market dynamics drove me back to public companies again.
I currently work for Perot Systems in Dallas, TX where I am responsible for large, enterprise global account development. We work with clients to define and evolve global outsourcing strategies that balance the benefits of US and offshore applications development and IT infrastructure management. I travel extensively, especially to India, where we have 5000 employees. I’ll be riding this to retirement over the next few years.

While I have strong Boston ties, I’m happy to be rid of winters and the travel congestion of the Northeast corridor. I have traveled nearly three million miles over the past 35 years. I am an avid Boston sports fan and read the Boston Globe sports section on-line every day. It’s been great experiencing afar the successes of the Patriots and the Red Sox.

I will look up my two fellow Texans; one of them is only 5 miles from me. I would enjoy hearing from anyone who has any memories to share or lives anywhere in the southwest. I will try to arrange my schedule to make the 40^th reunion.

Probably more than anyone wants to know, but that’s my story. My best to you all.