Michael S. Tomczyk

Best known for his role in the development and marketing of the Commodore VIC-20, the first microcomputer to sell one million units, Tomczyk is also recognized as an early pioneer in telecomputing. Born and raised in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, he had planned to be a writer/journalist. He received a B.A. degree from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh where he majored in English Literature and minored in Journalism and Spanish. While there, he worked as photo editor for student publications and as a photojournalist for a local newspaper. He enrolled in Army ROTC and graduated in 1970 as a Distinguished Military Student.

He then served 3 years in the Army, including a tour at Fort Bragg where he was Public Information Officer for the XVIII Airborne Corps, home of the 82nd Airborne Division. He helped launch the Volunteer Army (VOLAR), which was being piloted in 1970. Tomczyk then served a tour in Vietnam and was awarded the Bronze Star for meritorious service in Vietnam (1971–72) and received the Army Commendation Medal for service in Korea (1973). After Vietnam he served in the U.S. Strategic Communications Command/United Nations in South Korea and rose to the rank of Captain. His experience in the military prepared him for the "business war" which was a key part of the corporate culture.

He holds an M.B.A. from U.C.L.A. and earned a Master's Degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Pennsylvania in May 2010 with a focus on technological solutions to environmental problems. His capstone project was entitled "The Paradoxes of Global Warming." After earning his M.B.A. from U.C.L.A. in Los Angeles, where he also worked as a management consultant in Beverly Hills, he accepted a position as General Manager of a San Francisco-based company called Metacolor. In 1979, the company was bought by Canadian investors who wanted someone to run the operation. Metacolor used NASA space technology to do special effects for motion pictures, including work on "Logan's Run" and "Time After Time."

One of their clients, ATARI, made a beta site to test a new game computer they called the Atari 600. The Atari machine had a flat plastic membrane keyboard and came with a game called Star Raiders. It had a "star field" hard wired into the system, which made it look like the stars were whizzing by as the player did battle with alien space ships. Tomczyk and his staff were quickly addicted to the game and wouldn't put it down, so he took it home.

Three days later, having been up for nearly 72 hours playing that game, he decided that if he could get addicted to it, then the whole world was going to get into home computing and he needed to be in that industry. He quit his job and during the next six months took a course in BASIC programming at a local computer store, where he learned on both the Commodore PET and Apple. At that time, Commodore ranked third behind Apple and Tandy (Radio Shack) as a personal computer maker. He found the Commodore system to be the best because everything was integrated into a full desktop system and it had a lot of user-friendly features.

He also started writing articles for computer magazines and spent a lot of time in Silicon Valley, at Apple and other companies, doing stories and learning about new technologies. Tomczyk wrote an article on the person who designed Star Raiders, and covered a company that had a circuit board that converted Apples from 40 columns to 80 columns (most computers displayed 40 letters across the screen, compared to a typewriter which types 80 letters across the page). At the end of six months he had $10 in the bank and $6 in cash in his pocket, but he had job offers from Apple, Atari, and Commodore.

In early 1980, he joined Commodore as Marketing Strategist and Assistant to the President, reporting to Commodore founder Jack Tramiel. When Tramiel announced that he wanted to develop a low-cost affordable home computer "for the masses, not the classes," Tomczyk embraced the concept and aggressively championed the new computer, insisting that it be "user friendly." He and Tramiel named the new computer the "VIC-20" and set the price at $299.95, at which point he was given the additional title of "VIC Czar" (at a time when Washington had an "Energy Czar"). He recruited a product management team called the "VIC Commandos" and implemented a variety of innovations including a unique user manual, a programming reference guide (which he co-authored), software on tape and cartridge, as well as a distinctive array of packaging, print ads, and marketing materials.

The new computer was introduced at Seibu Department Store as the VIC-1001 in Tokyo in September 1980, and as the VIC-20 at the Consumer Electronics Show in 1981, and subsequently in Canada, Europe, and Asia. In 1981, Tomczyk established the Commodore Information Network, an early implementation of an Internet-style user community. To enable adoption of telecomputing, he contracted the design of the VICModem, which became the first modem priced under $100 and the first to sell one million units, and negotiated free telecomputing services from CompuServe, The Source (online service), and Dow Jones. By 1982, the Commodore network was the largest traffic "site" on CompuServe.

The VIC-20 was followed by the more powerful Commodore 64. These computers introduced millions of people worldwide to home computing and telecomputing, and laid the foundation for ubiquitous worldwide computing. His experiences are described in his 1984 book, "The Home Computer Wars." Tomczyk left Commodore in 1984, six months after Jack Tramiel left the company, and subsequently has served as a consultant to technology startups and international trade projects.

He has been a contributing editor of Export Today Magazine for nearly 10 years and has published more than 150 articles, including computer magazine columns (Compute! and Compute!'s Gazette, 1980–85), a business newspaper column, and numerous magazine articles. In 1995 he joined the Wharton School as Managing Director of the Emerging Technologies Management Research Program, where he worked with a core group of faculty to develop a major management research program. That program subsequently became the Mack Center for Technological Innovation, which sponsored academic research and insight-building events to help organizations compete, survive, and succeed in technology-driven industries. As Managing Director of the Mack Center, Tomczyk has served as a bridge between academia and industry partners.

In 1997 he originated an annual event called the Emerging Technologies Update Day, which showcased radical innovations looming on the near horizon. In 2000 he helped launch the BioSciences Crossroads Initiative in the Mack Center, and in 2006 co-authored (with Paul J. H. Schoemaker) a major research report entitled "The Future of BioSciences: Four Scenarios for 2020 and Their Implications for Human Healthcare" (May 2006). He also wrote about gene therapy and a variety of other technologies. In 2010, despite the recession, he led the recruitment of 10 new industry partners in the Mack Center, including General Motors, Lockheed-Martin, and NASA.

Tomczyk edited the Mack Center's website and an electronic newsletter launched in 2010, and taught sessions on radical innovation in the Wharton Executive Education Program. In 2011, he authored a chapter entitled "Applying the Marketing Mix (5 P's) to Bionanotechnology" in the book "Biomedical Nanotechnology" (Springer 2011). He has served on the leadership committee for the IEEE/IEC initiative developing standards for Nanotechnology, on the advisory group for the Advanced Computing department at Temple University, and on the Commercialization Core committee developing translational medicine at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School. From 1995 onward he helped launch five successful technology startups as an advisor and/or board member.

During the 1990s he helped corporations develop and implement their Internet strategies, and he advised companies and government agencies on international technology projects and the impact of disruptive technologies. Tomczyk has keynoted two or three industry events each year on emerging technologies and innovation strategies and taught sessions in the Executive Education program at the Wharton School. He has posted examples of radical innovations and insights on innovation strategy on his personal website. His career in journalism has yielded more than 150 published articles, including a monthly column as Contributing Editor for Export Today, a column on BASIC programming for Compute!'s Gazette (The VIC Magician), a business how-to column for the West Chester Daily News, and articles for Associated Press, the New York Times, Stars and Stripes, and many other publications. His memoir, "The Home Computer Wars" (1984), became a collectible, and his subsequent book, "NanoInnovation: What Every Manager Needs to Know," was published in early 2013 by Wiley-VCH.