Dick Reck’s mellow baritone–as soothing as that of any late night radio host–offers the calm reassurance you’d expect from a public accountant.
Don’t be fooled. Stick around until something amuses him–it won’t take long–and listen to him laugh.
His maniacal cackle matches the personality of a guy you’d expect to find jumping off cliffs, something he never does unless he’s wearing skis.
Instead, Reck pursues people who perform the business equivalent of daredevil acts: entrepreneurs who like starting high-tech businesses.
He’s a big part of the reason why the accountancy he joined 30 years ago–Peat Marwick, now KPMG LLC–audits a leading share of the area’s high-tech companies.
Never mind that tech stocks are in the dumpster and the accounting industry’s reputation is in shambles. So far, Reck hasn’t been sued.
As for the dot-com bubble, he steered clear of Internet stocks: “It was very difficult to tell what was real and what wasn’t.”
Reck began advising tech businesses long before they attracted high rollers. His patient pushing for decades to promote not just his clients but the area’s growing base of high-tech companies is a big reason for his firm’s success.
He built a practice the old-fashioned way: by getting involved and having fun. You can spot him easily at any industry gathering. He’s the tall man wearing white socks with dark trousers, hair curling over his collar, surrounded by people wanting to talk to him.
The 52-year-old is winding down at KPMG eight years before his firm’s mandatory retirement age. “You have to start your second 30-year career early enough to have time for your third,” he says.
He’s not pleased about his industry’s troubles or the changes in store for accountants.
“The next few years won’t be as much fun for people who enjoy holding a client’s hand and helping them through some growing pains,” says accounting guru Arthur Bowman.
Growing pains are Reck’s specialty. (Another is broken bones; he’s fractured 17 of his while playing sports.)
When Peat Marwick decided to form a Midwest tech practice in the early 1980s, about the time Reck made partner, the firm had 26 tech clients, including Motorola. Nearly all have been sold or shut down.
A new generation of tech clients contributes 20 percent of KPMG’s Chicago office revenues. Reck advises software and IT firms from Chicago’s Click Commerce to start-up Sarvega Inc. in Burr Ridge.
Lakeview Technology in Oak Brook has been a client since Bill Merchantz formed the company after splitting from partner Robert Bernard at the former Whittman-Hart Inc.
Merchantz recalls discussing names for his new company while sitting with Reck in Merchantz’s living room on a summer day 13 years ago. They’d run through 15 names–all were taken–when Merchantz asked Reck what he thought about Lakeview.
Reck stared out the window. The pond in Merchantz’s back yard was covered with thick green algae. “It sounds better than Pond Scum Technology,” Reck replied.
Lakeview prospered: The IT services company reported $37 million in sales last year.
Others recall picking up the phone to call Reck for business advice. “You could always count on him to give his honest opinion,” says Michael Cullinane, former Platinum Technology International Inc. chief financial officer and now Divine Inc.’s CFO.
Says venture capitalist David Tolmie, ex-CEO of YesMail Inc., “He’s not just looking for the quick payback.”
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Reck has little patience for people who don’t share his view of Chicago as a thriving high-tech center.
“The Internet bubble was temporary but it changed the scene forever,” he says. “This town didn’t believe there was any technology here 20 years ago. Today it’s part of the economy.”
He claims he’s going to spend more time with his family, but it’s a good bet that anybody looking to start Pond Scum Technology will find him.
He’ll be tinkering with his 60-odd computers or planting azaleas, or else out working on breaking another bone.
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