“That’s my third role--to absorb uncertainty,” he said. “At some point, it is more important to make a decision and get the organization moving on it than to spend more time trying to dot every i and cross every t.”

It is a style of leadership that works well in a young technology company like Akamai, said founder Leighton.

“George is a fantastic CEO,” Leighton said. “He commands the respect of everyone and he relates well to the young people. He has the spirit and heart of a young person.”

That spirit has its roots in the Midwest, where Conrades spent his formative years. Shortly after his birth, Conrades’ parents, Ralph and Betty Conrades, moved from St. Louis to Youngstown, Ohio, where Conrades stayed until college. He spent his time building go-carts from lawnmower engines, which then evolved into customizing hot rods. He played drums in a band called “The Continentals” that covered the new rock ‘n’ roll songs being produced in the mid-1950s.

Upon graduation from Poland Seminary High School in 1957, Conrades entered Ohio Wesleyan University, where he quickly gained a reputation as a leader. He joined the Beta Theta Pi fraternity and became the fraternity president; later, he became president of the student body.

“I met George when he was a freshman, and I knew right away he was very smart, very dynamic,” said frat brother and longtime friend Paul Schimmel, 59, professor emeritus of biology at MIT, who is now doing DNA research at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California.

Schimmel remembers coming back to the fraternity house after morning classes and watching Conrades entertain his frat brothers by playing the drums. The pair also swapped girlfriends, so to speak.

“George was dating a girl named Cleo, and I was hanging out with a girl named Patsy,” Schimmel said. “I ended up dating Cleo, and George ended up with Patsy. We both ended up marrying the girls, and we’ve been married ever since.”

Conrades married Patsy Belt soon after graduating from Ohio Wesleyan with a degree in mathematics and physics. He then joined IBM as a salesman, beginning what would become a more than 30-year career with the company.

He rose quickly at IBM, holding a number of marketing management and general management positions. In the late 1960s, he was transferred to Chicago, where he enrolled in the Executive M.B.A. Program. He relished the opportunity.

“I had gone to a liberal arts college, and now I was getting a chance to go to the business school at the University of Chicago. It was a real thrill,” Conrades said.

Graduating from Chicago GSB in 1971, Conrades said he came away with a solid education that has served him well throughout his career.

“The education I received was valuable because it taught me the basic concepts of business and the economy,” he said. “Even though there are some differences between the old economy and the new economy, we know that at some point we actually have to focus on the bottom line. The University of Chicago teaches you how to do that.”

As he continued to rise at IBM, Conrades held key management positions, including U.S. director of marketing and senior vice president for U.S. operations. He also was responsible for the establishment of IBM’s Asia/Pacific Group in 1984.

When there was a top management shake-up in 1991, Conrades left IBM and formed his own business consulting firm. By 1994, he had become president and CEO of BBN, formerly Bolt, Beranek and Newman, a technology and research firm best known for helping the U.S. government create ARPANET, a defense technology system and precursor to the Internet, in 1964.

Conrades leveraged BBN’s knowledge to make the com-pany one of the world’s largest Internet service providers. GTE Corporation took interest in BBN in 1997, purchasing the company for $616 million, or $29 a share, more than double the stock’s value when Conrades came aboard.

He stayed with GTE to lead the company’s Internet and data communications activities as an executive vice president of the parent firm and president of GTE Internetworking. But Conrades wasn’t interested in climbing the ladder once again at a giant firm. He left GTE in 1997 to join Polaris Venture Partners, where he made the acquaintances of the Akamai founders, which led to his current position.

“I think right now George is doing what he was born to do,” his friend Schimmel said. “George always had an entrepreneurial style. He was always on the leading edge. . . . His managerial experience and his entrepreneurial spirit are a perfect fit. He is someone who can successfully meld the business culture with the techie culture.”

Aware that many young minds might benefit from his experience, Conrades participates in a number of activities outside of Akamai. He continues to work with start-up companies through Polaris Venture Partners and is a board member of CBS Corporation, Infinity Broadcasting Corporation, and Cardinal Health.

Conrades also shares his knowledge with Chicago GSB. A former member of the GSB Advisory Council, he was the keynote speaker at the 48th Annual Management Conference (See “E-Commerce and the Future of Finance”.) and was selected by graduating GSB students to be their commencement speaker. (See “Convocation Celebration”.)

“George has been a very loyal alumnus,” Hamada said. “He is someone who has found the fountain of youth and is willing to share his discovery with students and alumni here at the GSB. For that, we are grateful.”

For Conrades, it’s all just the thrill of being a part of the next big thing.

“I get to work with some of the most brilliant and innovative minds in the industry, and it’s exhilarating,” Conrades said. “I love being 61 and doing it all over again. I feel like I’m 21.”

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