BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION - Curtis L. Sippel

Curtis L. Sippel is an entrepreneurial executive. His career has provided repeated responsibility for a wide range of process-driven, problem solving roles and assignments.

Sippel has B.S. Business (1968) and M.S. Marketing (1972) degrees from the University of Minnesota. During his graduate school tenure, he also held policy research staff positions at the Citizen’s League in Minneapolis, the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs at the University of Minnesota, and the Minnesota Housing Institute. He began his military service in 1970 and was honorably discharged from the U.S. Army Reserve in 1976, holding the rank of Staff Sergeant.

Sippel began his professional career as Founder and President of Sippel, von Kuster & Associates, a health care market research firm specializing in labor market analysis for the federal government, specifically DHEW. From 1978 to 1981 Sippel was the Assistant State Auditor of Minnesota, a deputy of the then, newly elected State Auditor Arne Carlson. In that capacity he was a key operations manager and political advisor, developed and managed the agencies biennial budgets, and provided lead staff support for two of the key Boards Carlson served on as a state Constitutional Officer; the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency, and the State Investment Board. He also chaired the state's Intergovernmental Information System's Advisory Council. [Carlson was subsequently elected Minnesota’s Governor
in 1990.]

Throughout the 1980’s Sippel designed and developed several products related to personal management; publishing a personal organization system called PREPARE, and co-authored a records management text, The Record Keeper, published by Dembner Books, New York.

In 1982, Sippel joined a large national multi-hospital systems group, United Healthcare Systems as Vice President, Operations. Following a merger, he was named Vice President of American Healthcare Systems (AmHS) in 1983, and rose to head their for-profit Ventures Division headquartered in Chicago. At the time AmHS was recognized as the largest multi-hospital system in the country, controlling over 25% of the hospital bed capacity in the United States.

In 1986, Sippel founded a Chicago-based consulting and contract management services business, Sippel Glidden Bohan & Hicks, Inc. He provided strategic planning and product development support to clients, primarily in the healthcare industry. In 1989 he founded BlueFeather Communication, Inc. (BFC), a pioneer in the application of emerging PC-based multi-media technology to corporate communication needs. Product content focused on new-media video solutions to present corporate benefit programs to employees. BFC distributed its PC-Video® programming nationally through direct sales and private label intermediary channels, to 700 of the largest employers in the U.S.

In 1999, Sippel joined Strategic Horizons, Ltd as a principal/partner to provide contract marketing, sales support, and communication services to the health/science/pharma sector. The company’s primary client was a large, multi-national diversified manufacturing corporation. An experienced SHL executive team created the structure and business model to build an integrated global scientific and medical resources company as a major component of our client’s diversification strategy.

In 2001, Sippel joined Centerfield Technology, Inc., as President, CEO, and Chairman. Centerfield is a software tools vendor and IBM Business Partner, founded in 1997, that sells highly specialized performance tuning and systems management tools to IBM iSeries system users. Brought in to lead the company through the IT slowdown that commenced in late 2000 and the general economic recession that prevailed through 2004, Sippel designed, financed, and implemented a broad set of reorganization, product development, and marketing/sales initiatives to refocus and stabilize the business and restore its profitability.