Roger Musick

PROFESSIONAL | BUSINESS

ROGER MUSICK

Mitchell, SD

Communications Hardware & Software Creator

Roger was born in Mitchell, SD, to Ira and Maxine Musick. He was the second of four children and grew up in a middle-class family with a hard-working father who drove a truck and mother who worked part time and encouraged education. Starting in the fifth grade, Roger had two paper routes and earned his own spending money. Roger's uncle, Lyle Storla, was an early mentor who stimulated an interest in electronics, and by the time Roger was in junior high, he knew that he would go to SDSM&T and major in Electrical Engineering. Roger got his amateur radio license in junior high, and throughout high school, he worked after school at Electronics Supply, rebuilding TV picture tubes and repairing TVs. In high school, Roger passed the First Class FCC license which was required to operate a TV or radio station.

Roger was the first member of his family to attend college, and he paid his own way with his savings. During his time at SDSM&T, he worked part time in Rapid City operating a TV station and a radio station and working at a two-way radio company.

Roger graduated from SDSM&T in 1971 as an electrical engineer. He and almost all those who graduated with him thought they would move to California or Texas and work in the electronics industry. After a couple of interview trips, Roger quickly decided those places had far too many people and too much concrete — he wanted to stay in South Dakota instead. He enrolled in a Master’s program that would start

in the fall to eventually become a consultant, but little did he know that a summer job offer from Doug Martin in his hometown of Mitchell would change all that.

Roger spent the summer helping Doug Martin design telephone systems at Martin and Associates, and at the end of the summer, he decided to stay. It was a perfect position which allowed him to use his engineering degree and further his interest in electronics and new technologies.

In 1974, Martin and Associates was reorganized, and Roger became a professional engineer and equal partner with Doug Martin and Harvey Kelly, and later Keith Bartels. During the 70s, Martin and Associates designed the majority of the communications networks in South Dakota and Iowa, and during the 80s, they deployed hundreds of new digital switches in the Midwest. They also designed the first major state-wide fiber networks in South Dakota, Iowa, and Minnesota which were owned by the independent communications companies.

A life-changing event for Roger was seeing the Altair 8800 kit computer on the cover of Popular Electronics in January of 1975. The cost was $439, and there was no doubt that he was getting one. Roger spent the next five years learning computers and programming in his spare time. The Altair computer was just a toy, but Roger learned software and in a few years purchased a DEC computer. In the evenings, he wrote a telephone billing system for Midstate Telephone Company. This billing system,

designed before personal computers, used a teletype machine on paper for all input or output. This was the birth of the software division at Martin and Associates which ultimately provided the billing software for about 150 telephone companies and New York Teleport, the largest competitive carrier in the US which sold to AT&T in 1998 for $11.3 billion.

When Martin and Associates was sold in 1999 and most of the partners wanted to retire, Roger wasn’t ready for retirement. He started Innovative Systems in 1998 and purchased the application peripheral product and a staff of 10 from Martin and Associates.

Deeply rooted in South Dakota, Innovative Systems was organized as a family partnership and has grown to a staff of about 200. The products at Innovative Systems have gradually increased to include the most complete suite of software in the industry to operate a communications company, the most widely-deployed enhanced voice service platform called the APMAX, and a complete IPTV System which is deployed by 150 service providers. Sons Kyle and Kody both have Computer Science degrees from the University of Nebraska and are active in the management of Innovative Systems.

Throughout his career, Roger has maintained an office in Rapid City primarily for providing internships for SDSM&T students with hopes that some of those interns will move to Mitchell. One of Roger's goals has been to create good jobs for engineers who want to stay in South Dakota when they graduate, and today, Innovative Systems employs 47 graduates and interns from SDSM&T, 23 from SDSU, and 22 from DSU.

Roger has served multiple terms on various community and state boards such as DWU, MTI, Methodist Hospital, Avera Queen of Peace, Mitchell Area Development, South Dakota State Chamber of Commerce, and the Governor’s Council of Economic Advisors. He has also served on numerous Computer Science advisory committees for South Dakota universities and the SD REACH Committee. Roger was very active on the Vision 2000 and Vision 2020 planning organizations for Mitchell, and he was a part of the committee that worked on the presentation when Mitchell was named one of the top 7 Intelligent Communities in the world.

NOMINATED BY KODY MUSICK

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Congratulations Dr. Parry

Thank you for your dedication as Dean to the USD Medical School from 2004-2012 and a national leader in public health.

Celebrating a Tradition

of Excellence

Congratulations Dr. Rod Parry on your 2018 induction into the South Dakota Hall of Fame.

Dr. Karl Wegner, inducted into the hall of fame in 1988