Paul Campbell: measuring success: weather or not.
Paul Campbell doesn't seem like a person who goes to extremes. But his company's products do, making their way to the world's highest heights and lowest temperatures.Weather stations and dataloggers created by Campbell Scientific, Inc. calculate temperatures, wind speeds, humidity and atmospheric pressure on the highest mountains around the world and in some of the lowest locales, like the depths of the ocean. The CR5, Campbell Scientific's first datalogger, was the first of its kind to process measurements, such as wind speeds and vectors, on the spot.
Even when he's vacationing, Campbell runs into evidence of his company's influence. On a trip to the Picasso Museum in Barcelona, and another museum in Vermont, he noticed that Campbell equipment was used to monitor the temperature and humidity, thus optimizing the exhibits' preservation.
In 1974, Campbell was studying chemistry at Utah State University when two of his brothers, Eric and Evan, offered him a job with their newly created scientific measurement company as it was just beginning to take off. Unfortunately, Eric passed away from cancer in 1992, but Evan still works as vice president of manufacturing while Paul heads the company as president and CEO.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Campbell, one of a family of eight boys and three girls, was raised on a dry farm in Juniper, Utah. The tasks to perform on the farm were endless, and Campbell points to the ingenuity and hard work learned from their father as factors that contributed to his and his brothers' success in their company. "My father gave responsibility to us, problems to solve, and he expected us to do it," he said. He recalls one time when Eric, then 14, was asked to enlarge the holes on the steel pad of a tractor. Eric borrowed the motor from his mother's washing machine and jerry-rigged a mechanical hand crank to drill with.
In his consistently modest way. Paul has a hard time taking the role of figurehead for the international company. "A company gets to be this size because of the input from a lot of different people," he maintains. "I can't go without acknowledging the work of those people whose shoulders I stand on. It is not only family members, it is very much everyone in the organization."
While focusing on his global business--a good portion of the product is sold outside the United States, and many of its employees work out of an office in England--Campbell also takes an active role in the Cache County community. He serves on the board of directors for the Cache Chamber of Commerce and as a chairman of the Chamber of Commerce Telecommunication Redundancy Committee, which is charged with helping expand the one and only fiber optic line running into Cache Valley. "It's not just a title," affirms Bobbie Coray, president and CEO of the Cache Chamber. "Paul is an active participant in the decisions made by the chamber and his committee."
The Campbell brothers grew up in Cache Valley, and it only seems right for Paul to keep the business close to home. "Logan is a great place to live." Campbell says, "[and Utah] is also very inviting to those who will work here in the future."
Jake Moon is a Logan-based journalist.
 Printer friendly
 Cite/link
 Email
 Feedback
| |
| Title Annotation: | People |
|---|---|
| Author: | Moon, Jake |
| Publication: | Utah Business |
| Geographic Code: | 1U8UT |
| Date: | Feb 1, 2004 |
| Words: | 539 |
| Previous Article: | Kathryn Litchfield: design sense and sensibility. |
| Next Article: | Below the surface: cutting-edge contributions to medical imaging. |
| Topics: | |
| Overdoses a measure of the success of Vancouver's drug injection site. |
| In this issue. |