GARY WEST NA ISSUE 26_Jerkins feature.qxd 18/10/2012 00:53 Page 2
GARY WEST
GARY WEST
The self-made billionaire bitten by the racing bug Gary West’s first job as a teenager was as a pinsetter at an old bowling alley in Iowa. He has been rolling strikes ever since. West, a Thoroughbred owner for 32 years, has settled into a life of philanthropy in posh Rancho Santa Fe, California, with his wife Mary, after becoming a self-made billionaire in telecommunications, but he has not forgotten his humble roots. WORDS: Steve Schuelein PhOtOS: hORSePhOtOS.cOM, BenOit PhOtO
“D
AD owned a four-lane bowling alley above a Chevrolet dealership before there were automatic pinsetters,” recalled West recently of growing up in Harlan, Iowa, a farming community of 4,000 people. “I sent the ball back and had to have the pins set up again and get back up on my perch before the bowler threw the next ball,” said West, now 66. “I thought, ‘There has got to be a better way to make money than this.’” During that time, West’s father also introduced his son to Thoroughbred racing at Ak-Sar-Ben in Omaha, Nebraska, about 50 miles away. West was smitten with the sport since he was 15. A few years later West was swept off his feet at a dance in Omaha by Mary, his wife of 44
years and partner in business and racing ownership. The pair rose to the status of telecommunications giants in Omaha. “We opened a business together and have worked professionally as a team since 1979 until we sold a controlling interest in 2006,” said West of a journey that began with the opening of WATS Telemarketing and later West Corporation in 1986. West Corporation became one of the largest customer relationship management providers in the world and pioneered the concept of audio-video conferencing. “We do all the connections on the line and I’m also proud that we handle about 90 per cent of 911 emergency calls to the entire country,” said West. “The business changed from people intensive to more computeroriented transaction processing.” In 2006, the couple sold the company for
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