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BLAZING HER OWN TRAIL IN HIGH TECHNOLOGY The Palm Beach Post March 11, 2001
1. BLAZING HER OWN TRAIL IN HIGH TECHNOLOGY
From a blue-collar background in the Bronx, Mercedes Walton became a sought after
executive.
BYLINE: Amy Martinez, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
DATE: March 11, 2001
PUBLICATION: The Palm Beach Post
EDITION: FINAL
SECTION: BUSINESS
PAGE: 1F
MEMO: Info box at end of text.
Executive recruiter Charles Edwards had to be thinking, with more than a hint of sarcasm, "That's
all?"
It was Aug. 22, 2000, and Applied Digital Solutions of Palm Beach was describing the qualities it
wanted in a new president and chief operating officer. Already 9 months old, Applied Digital's
search had produced no viable candidates. But then, Applied Digital was asking for a lot: a
strategy-oriented, yet visionary and charismatic leader who understood technology and had
senior management experience at a large telecommunications company.
Applied Digital (Nasdaq: ADSX), which did about $335 million in sales last year, had grown by
buying more than 60 high-tech companies in seven years, but it was now looking to outside
investors to break the billion-dollar threshold. The new leader would need to simultaneously gain
the confidence of Wall Street and the various entrepreneurs who were the company's lifeblood.
"I told them it would be a distinct challenge," recalled Edwards, of the Stratford Group in Atlanta.
Two months later, Edwards found Mercedes Walton, a former executive with AT&T who had just
started her own consulting business. By Dec. 31, the search was over. Walton was the one.
She had an ideal pedigree - a bachelor's degree in psychology from Smith College, a master's in
education from Harvard University and a master's of science from the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology - and impeccable references from AT&T, where she held several senior executive
positions, including vice president of corporate strategy and business development. That she is a
black woman - well, who knew? The high-tech world is dominated by white men, and Walton's
appointment at Applied Digital made her one of the highest-ranking black women in technology
today.
Says Sonya Donaldson, technology editor for Black Enterprise magazine: "You can count on one
hand the number of women in positions of leadership, and if you look at the number of African-
American women, you'd be hard-pressed to even (have to) count."
If Walton succeeds in making Applied Digital a billion-dollar company, she could become high
tech's most powerful black woman.
That opportunity is why she gave up the independence of running her own business at home in
Mendham, N.J., to work 12- to 14-hour days at Applied Digital's corporate offices on Royal Palm
Way. She is the only black person among a staff of 25; she's the leader of 1,700 employees
worldwide.
"It's really incredibly exciting to me. I am most definitely blazing trails," Walton said recently
during a leisurely lunch at the Brazilian Court in Palm Beach - a rare treat for someone who
2. usually eats fruit salads at her desk. "I was able to advance as far as I could in a corporate
environment, and I was quite successful on multiple dimensions," she said. "But for me, I've been
on a mission my entire life to make a difference . . . for women and people of color. . . . The
statement I'd like to make is it can be done."
A dynamic personality
Richard Sullivan, Applied Digital's founder, chairman and chief executive officer, said he didn't
intend to make a statement by hiring Walton. He simply liked her leadership experience and
dynamic personality. "We were shocked that we really had the opportunity to capture her,"
Sullivan said. "To get a real rainmaker is hard because everybody's fighting for the same person,
and we weren't the only company looking at her." He added: "Business is about performance. It's
not about whether you're black or white."
But more than 20 years in corporate America taught Walton that race and gender do matter when
it comes to reaching the very top. She refers to it as the "cement wall."
Walton, who grew up in the Bronx in a working-class family, started her career at Blue Cross and
Blue Shield of Florida in Jacksonville, but she struggled to make a name and left after a year. In
1976, she was recruited by Southern Bell, which was trying to hire more minorities, and entered
its management development program for future CEOs.
She was intense even as a child, skipping the eighth grade and finishing high school early so she
could get on with her life. She stopped working only once, for three months to have a baby, and
earned one promotion after another. Her resume has none of the red flags that plague others with
less direction or ambition.
"I've always been focused on moving to another orbit," she said. "I believe that as part of my
mission in this lifetime I'm intended to achieve some extraordinary things." Warren Josephson, an
attorney for AT&T who worked with Walton on new business opportunities until her resignation in
March 2000, describes her as smart, creative and extremely hard-working, adding he frequently
received e-mails from her at 3 or 4 a.m.
Recognized for leadership
One of their last projects together involved a new technology developed by AT&T, called A2B,
that makes it possible to download music from the Internet. The project "petered out" as a
business endeavor, Josephson said, but Walton impressed everyone as a quick study.
"She spent a lot of time working with the leading players in the music industry and very quickly
established herself as an important point of contact in that industry," he said.
Walton, 47, spoke often about the need for more blacks in top decision-making positions at
AT&T, and in 1999 she won the Rosa Parks National Courageous Leadership Award. Did she fit
into AT&T's corporate culture? "I'm not even going to go near that one," Josephson remarked.
Walton says she relishes her role at Applied Digital because she'll be judged solely on her merits.
Either she increases shareholder value or she doesn't. "There's no subjectivity about bottom line
earnings," she said. "I always wanted to be in a job where my performance would be judged on
an objective scale of value creation."
Walton wasn't looking for a job when Edwards, the recruiter, called in October. She referred him
to a potential candidate and didn't hear back until a week later, when he called again, this time to
thank her. The weather in New Jersey was cold and rainy, and Walton joked, "If you had first
contacted me on a day like today, I might have put my name in the hat."
Edwards replied, "Mercedes, it's not nice to tease," and he began to tell her about Applied Digital.
A few weeks later, Walton met in Boston with the company's search committee. She visited Palm
3. Beach shortly thereafter with her 15-year-old daughter, Nathalie, and husband, Luico Hopper, a
jazz musician. "We fell in love at first sight," Walton said.
For now, she is living at the Chesterfield Hotel, two blocks from her office and house-hunting as
far north as Jupiter. Daughter Nathalie will attend boarding school in the Northeast next fall.
She marvels at the high cost of housing in Palm Beach County, but that likely is more an
indication of her down-to-earth nature than the size of her compensation package. Neither Walton
nor Sullivan would disclose her pay until it is reported to the Securities and Exchange
Commission along with the company's annual filing. All Sullivan would say is, "She's very well
compensated."
Walton replaces 66-year-old Garrett Sullivan, who remains one of the company's largest
shareholders and is vice chairman of its board of directors. Richard Sullivan, who is not related,
plans for Walton to eventually take his place as CEO.
Walton has spent much of her first two months at Applied Digital courting potential investors and
partners to help with marketing, manufacturing and distributing products worldwide.
Future tied to Digital Angel
The company's future hangs on Digital Angel, a new, controversial technology that has gained
attention across the country, most recently in The New York Times. It can be worn as a bracelet
or watch and allows doctors to monitor a patient's heartbeat, glucose level and blood pressure
throughout the day using Internet technology.
Critics say it raises privacy concerns for likely users such as Alzheimer's patients or people with
mental illness. Walton says it's designed to do good. "It's not invasive technology. It's technology
that's there to intervene in positive ways," she said.
Outside of work, look for Walton to be a mentor to local school children and to support technology
education programs. Walton's dad was a New York City firefighter and her mom was a public
school teacher's aide. Both encouraged her to get an Ivy League education, even when her high
school guidance counselor suggested the best she could do was attend community college.
She hopes to inspire children in poor and working-class neighborhoods to set big goals.
"I would like to go to classrooms to talk to students, tell my story and perhaps inspire," she said.
"Here is a normal girl from the Bronx who had a dream and the family support that enabled her to
break new ground."
amy_martinez@pbpost.com
Mercedes Walton
- Title: President and chief operating officer, Applied Digital Solutions, Palm Beach.
- Age: 47
- Previous jobs: Owner of Ralston Hill Consulting in Mendham, N.J., a technology
consulting firm, and vice president of corporate strategy and business development for AT&T.
- Education: Bachelor's degree in psychology from Smith College, master's in education from
Harvard University, Master of Science degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's
Sloan School of Business.
- Awards: 1999 Rosa Parks National Courageous Leadership Award, 1998 Distinguished
Community Leader Award from the New Jersey Association of Women Business Owners.
4. - Married to: Luico Hopper, a jazz musician who has released two CDs, Reflections and Lessons
of Light.
- Daughter: Nathalie, 15, the inspiration for Walton's 1995 master's thesis on broadband
technology.
- Magazine subscriptions: The Industry Standard, Business Week, Time and Black Enterprise.
- Hobbies: Travel, theater, jazz.
Illustration: PHOTO (C)
ALLEN EYESTONE/Staff Photographer
Mercedes Walton, a former executive with AT&T, is the new president and chief operating officer
of Applied Digital Solutions, a high-tech company in Palm Beach. Her new position at Applied
Digital makes her one of the highest-ranking black women in technology, a field dominated by
white men