WILLIAM HAMILTON:
 
WILLIAM HAMILTON




 
 
 
 
 
President and Founder of TechSmith Corp. in Okemos. Hamilton has worked in the technology industry for more than 30 years. He grew TechSmith from a consulting company that designed custom software into a leading developer of screen capture and recording software systems for both consumers and businesses. Hamilton started his career in software and information technology in the early 1970s. For nearly a decade, he held several positions at Michigan State University in operations research and data processing. From 1982 to 1985, Hamilton served as vice president for Dialog Systems Inc., where he led the PC development group in creating analytical tools for logistics and purchasing. In 1985, he was a founding member of Alternative Key, a consulting company delivering networking services for large corporations. In 1987, the company transformed one of its custom applications into its first commercial application, “SnagIt.” TechSmith was born soon after, and SnagIt continues to be a flagship product along with Camtasia Studio, Morae, Uservue, and Screencast.com. Hamilton received his bachelor’s degree in sociology from Michigan State.


WHERE BORN: "Ann Arbor."

MOST INFLUENTIAL PERSONS: "My grandmother in my early development. She ended up being a single parent in the Great Depression and raised two kids through college and partially raised me. She believed in personal and social responsibility and tried to pass that on to me."

LAST BOOK READ: "The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb"

WORDS THAT DESCRIBE ME: "Inquisitive – I'm always interested in new things and new ideas. My grandmother was successful in that I’m a civilized person, and I like to believe that I’m a rational person and understand what my emotions are and what the facts are."

WHERE MY FIELD/INDUSTRY IS HEADED: "I wish I knew the answer to that. Wherever it's going, it's going to get there fast. That’s been the common denominator: things are going to change dramatically and it’s going to happen quite rapidly. It’s that energy and buzz that makes this a great industry to be in."

FAVORITE TECHNOLOGICAL GADGET: "Nikon D200 digital camera."

FAVORITE PLACE: "Empire, Michigan."

FAVORITE HOBBY: "I’m an action pistol competitor."

FAVORITE FOOD: "I enjoy almost every kind of Asian food. I’m especially fond of French-Vietnamese food."

MY HIDDEN TALENT: "Once in my life, I sang a whole song in tune. The other is that I have lots of trivial facts in my brain. I have an enormous amount of worthless knowledge."

HOW I WANT TO BE REMEMBERED: "As a great-grandfather, and you can hyphenate that any way you'd like."

Grant Thornton Website At the annual awards reception on Thursday, April 26, 2012, one Leader & Innovator from the previous 12 months will be selected as the Grant Thornton Leader & Innovator of the Year.