A private memorial service will be held for a former Omahan who led the development of Layer 3 communications during the fiber optic telecommunications revolution.
James Q. Crowe, 74, had a vision of cheaper bandwidth that would enable video streaming and the robust Internet experience we enjoy today, his family said in a statement to The World-Herald. And he turned that vision into reality.
Crowe formed Level 3 Communications in 1997. Together with its parent company, Omaha-based construction giant Peter Kiewit Sons Inc., and its president, Walter Scott Jr., Crowe raised $15 billion to build a completely new network based on the latest technologies and optimized for the Internet.
Crowe
Rather than moving data over traditional telephone networks, it envisioned voice, data and video moving over a revolutionary new type of network using fiber-optic and Internet technologies, the statement said. A net for the eyes rather than the ears, as Crowe described it.
Crowe died on his 74th birthday July 2 at his home in Paradise Valley, Arizona, after a battle with pulmonary arterial hypertension. A private memorial service will be held later this summer.
He was born on July 2, 1949 at the Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton to Colonel Henry Pierson Crowe and Mona Quell Crowe. In 1957, the family moved from California to Portsmouth, Virginia.
After earning a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Crowe received an MBA from Pepperdine University. Crowe spent his early career in engineering and construction, specializing in the design and construction of electrical power plants, including both conventional and nuclear power plants.
In 1986 he was hired by Kiewit to direct the laying of optical fiber underground. This led Crowe to launch MFS Communications in 1988 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Kiewit Diversified Group Inc. He took MFS public in 1993 and quickly built it into a Fortune 500 company, before it moved to Broomfield, Colorado and was acquired by WorldCom in 1996 for $14.3 billion.
A year later, Crowe founded Level 3, which has grown into a Fortune 500 company with a global network serving 50 countries. Crowe retired in 2013 but remained on the company’s board.
At the time, Scott commended Crowe for his leadership in building Level 3. It is no exaggeration to say that, without Jim, there would have been no Level 3.
Level 3 Communications was acquired by CenturyLink, now Lumen Technologies, in 2017.
Crowe was also known for his philanthropy and hosted an annual fundraiser at his Denver home for the Anchor Center for Blind Children. He has served on the board of directors and chaired the Finance Committee of Denver Health.
His wife Pam leaves him; sons, James and Sterling; daughter, Angie Barako; sisters, Gretchen Ward, Mona Sheperty and Mary Jenkins; brothers, Joel and Jon; and seven grandchildren.
Fortune 500 and 1,000 companies in Omaha
1 – Berkshire Hathaway
Berkshire Hataway
Degree of luck: No. 3 with revenues of $242.1 billion; down from #2 last year. First cracked fortune list in 1989 at number 205.
History: The holding company of large and medium-sized businesses and investments has grown in large part due to the singular wisdom of chairman and chief executive officer Warren Buffett. It started out as an investment pool of family and friends in Omaha in the mid-1950s. In 1965, Buffett bought the textile company that gave Berkshire its name. (Ironically, he later called it his worst investment.) His philosophy of buying successful companies with solid niches and maintaining leadership in place has garnered returns well in excess of the stock market. The move to insurance was key, as Buffett uses available premium reserves for investment to fund further purchases. Forbes notes that Berkshire now generates nearly three-quarters of its revenue from its non-financial operating businesses. At 87, Buffett is the oldest CEO of a Fortune 500 company. The firm has maintained its offices in Omahas Kiewit Plaza since 1962.
BRENDAN SULLIVAN/THE WORLD-HERALD
2 – Aflac
Aflac
Fortunerank: No. 137 on revenues of $21.7 billion; down from last year’s 126.
History: Founded in 1955 as American Family Life Insurance by John Amos and his brothers Paul and Bill in Columbus, Georgia, Aflac pays benefits when people are sick or injured. It gained wider recognition starting in 2000 with a marketing campaign using a duck announcing its name. In 2002, Aflac moved its corporate headquarters to Nebraska for tax reasons and located a regional office in Omaha, although its primary offices remain in Georgia.
BLOOMBERG
3 – Pacific Union
Pacific Union
Fortunerank: No. 141 on revenues of $21.2 billion; compared to last year’s number 143. Listed annually since non-manufacturing companies were added to the list in 1995.
History: The company was created by the Pacific Railway Act of 1862, an act of Congress that required the construction of a transcontinental railroad line from the Missouri River to the West Coast. The first track was laid out from Omaha in 1865 and the UP became a national icon. Multiple mergers over 150 years have helped UP amass the largest railroad network in the nation, with operations in 23 western states and excellent rail connections to Mexico. In 2004, the railroad opened a new 19-story downtown headquarters serving approximately 2,900 of the company’s 42,000 employees.
REBECCA S. GRATZ/THE WORLD-HERALD
4 – Peaceful life
Peaceful life
Fortunerank: No. 313 on revenues of $9.5 billion; the same ranking as last year.
History: Founded in 1868 in Sacramento, California as Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Co., the company’s life insurance, annuity and other financial products pay out $2.3 billion in benefits annually. Although its primary office is in Newport Beach, California, Pacific Life moved its corporate headquarters to Nebraska in 2004 for tax reasons and now has a regional office in Omahas Aksarben Village.
KENT SIEVERS/THE WORLD-HERALD
5 – Peter Kiewit and sons
Peter Kiewit Sons Inc.
Fortunerank: No. 339 on revenues of $8.7 billion; down from last year’s 324. She made her Fortune debut in 1991 and has been listed every year since 1998 but one. It is privately owned but qualifies for the Fortune list because it publicly reports revenue.
History: Three sons of Peter Kiewit took over their father’s Omaha construction company, with the youngest, also named Peter, credited with turning it into one of the great nations. The company took off building military installations during World War II and the Cold War. He also built more miles of interstate system than any other contractor, causing Fortune to nickname Peter Kiewit the Colossus of Roads. Today it is one of the largest employee-owned companies in the world and one of the few construction companies large enough to take on billion-dollar projects.
SARAH HOFFMAN/THE WORLD-HERALD
6 – Mortgage
Omaha mortgage
Fortunerank: No. 337 on revenues of $8.7 billion; compared to last year’s number 342. It made its debut in 1995, dropped out in 2006 and 2007, but has been firmly on the list ever since.
History: It had a humble start in 1909 as the Mutual Benefit Health and Accident Association, initially struggling to attract policyholders. Under the guidance of Creighton medical student CC Criss and later VJ Skutt, it grew and emerged as a leading health and casualty insurer in the 1950s. The name was changed to Mutual of Omaha in 1962 and a year later it became a household name with its sponsorship of the popular Wild Kingdom television show. The company rebranded its familiar Native American head logo in 2001, expanded into banking in 2007, and renewed its commitment to its downtown Omaha headquarters by developing the mixed-use Midtown Crossing.
JEFF BUNDY/THE WORLD-HERALD
7 – TD Ameritrade
TD America
Fortunerank: No. 630 on revenues of $3.7 billion; compared to last year’s 674 number.
History: Founder Joe Ricketts saw an opportunity in 1975 when the Securities and Exchange Commission eliminated the practice of fixed brokerage fees. Ricketts’ firm, First Omaha Securities Inc., began offering discounted commissions and helped usher in a new era of investing, coupled with technology that evolved from touch-tone phones to the Internet. Forty years later, TD Ameritrade has more than 11 million client accounts with more than $1.2 trillion in assets and custody services for more than 6,000 independent registered investment advisors. Clients trade more than 940,000 times a day.
8 – Green Plains Inc.
Green Plains Inc.
Degree of Luck: No. 782 on revenues of $2.7 billion; compared to last year’s 804 number.
SARAH HOFFMAN/THE WORLD-HERALD
9 – Valmonte
Valmont
Fortunerank: No. 782 on revenues of $2.7 billion; compared to last year’s 804 number.
History: In 1946, Robert B. Daugherty spent the bulk of his life savings of $5,000 buying a small manufacturing business on a farm near Valley to build agricultural elevators. Years later, with the invention of center-pivot irrigation, Valmont found his niche. It then expanded into the production of steel pipes and tubes for irrigation systems and other industries. Through acquisitions and new construction, the company has grown into a global player in certain segments of the agriculture, communications and utilities markets. Today, Valmont’s worldwide operations are constantly looking for opportunities to expand its four business segments: engineered support structures (steel and aluminum traffic light masts, street lighting, etc.); user-bearing structures (poles for electricity transmission lines, etc.); irrigation; and coatings (galvanizing).
KENT SIEVERS/THE WORLD-HERALD
Werner Enterprises
Werner Enterprises
Fortunerank: No. 871 on revenues of $2.3 billion; nine positions compared to last year.
WERNER ENTERPRISES
[email protected], 402-444-1272
#Kiewit #executive #remembered #expanding #capabilities #Internet
Image Source : lexch.com
