Jeffrey Weitzen, ’80, president and CEO of Gateway, is willing to talk about his own first experiences with computers, but he has a disclaimer.

“This is going to make me sound like a computer geek and I am absolutely not, ” he said before divulging his secret: he worked part-time writing computer programs for his economics professors at Wesleyan University. His computer language of choice? “FORTRAN, and FORTRAN has been extinct for I don’t know how long, ” he laughingly admitted.

Weitzen doesn’t spend much of his time thinking back, though. His job now is to look ahead, creating and implementing a new vision for one of the nation’s most successful personal computer direct sellers. In January 2000, he was promoted from chief operating officer to CEO at San Diego-based Gateway. Competing with such companies as Dell and Compaq, Weitzen has set an ambitious goal of $30 billion in global revenue by 2004.

The Fortune 250 company, which estimated it would reach $10 billion in global revenue in 2000, is in the midst of what Weitzen described as “a fairly big transformation. ” Founded in 1985 by company chairman Ted Waitt, Gateway is expanding beyond its computer retailer roots. The goal is to be “more of a full-service solutions provider, ” Weitzen said.

Gateway has been moving to position itself as the source consumers turn to for software, hardware, Internet access, financing solutions, and computer training. “Our objective is to become the [information technology] manager for the masses, building long lasting relationships with customers, ” Weitzen said.

Before nurturing customer loyalty at Gateway, Weitzen was busy for 18 years at communications behemoth AT&T. The 44-year-old New Jersey native was executive vice president of the business markets division when he decided to join Gateway in 1998.

“ [Gateway] was funky and friendly and it was very different from any other technology brand. I really liked that a lot, ” Weitzen said.

Leading the company takes concentration, he added. “It means being able to focus, being very opportunistic, being able to separate mediocre ideas from really good ideas, and then getting the people behind it. ”

Ideas that help grow multiple revenue streams for Gateway while bolstering customer loyalty are particularly popular with Weitzen. The computer industry is one of short product life cycles and swift and severe punishment for errors, he said. “I think keeping close to customers is very important. ”

This has been obvious in the new initiatives introduced at Gateway during Weitzen’s tenure. The company has implemented a policy allowing clients to trade their systems for the latest technology after two years of ownership and has expanded its peripheral offerings by building up its Gateway Country retail store chain and training classes, which Weitzen sees as essential to helping customers keep pace with technology.

“Shame on our industry––technology is not necessarily intuitive, ” he said. “I find that the tools that are out there to actually show you how to use computers are not good for me and they’re not good for a lot of people. ”

Sitting down and reading a technological manual is something for which Weitzen has little time or interest. With the computer industry landscape shifting faster than you can log on to an Internet server, Weitzen is constantly bombarded with new ideas and information.