Friday, October 03, 2008
Reservist prepares family, company for deployment
Owner Henry Bass believes he has laid the groundwork to keep Automation Creations on target.
Photos by Matt Gentry | The Roanoke Times
Henry Bass plays on Claytor Lake with his oldest son, 13-year-old Eric. Bass, the owner and president of Blacksburg-based Automation Creations, is being deployed for 13 months to Iraq. He jokes that his company may do better without him.
Henry Bass (center) hosts a picnic for his employees at Claytor Lake in September. His company has 11 employees and does much of its business creating Web-based software applications.
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BLACKSBURG -- For a business owner scheduled to leave his Blacksburg-based technology firm on Sunday for a 13-month deployment to Iraq, Henry Bass is surprisingly upbeat.
The Army reservist likes to joke that his Automation Creations may even fare better without him.
He has hung a slightly altered Dilbert cartoon depicting a cubicled employee telling the boss that "morale skyrocketed, profits soared and for the first time, life had meaning" while he was in Iraq.
"It's just my luck that I'd miss those 13 months," the cartoon version of Bass quips back.
Laureen Fleming, operations manager at the 11-employee company, says that's just Bass "being very modest."
But even if the company does run well without him, it would underscore the strong leadership Bass has shown and the time he has spent planning for a possible deployment, she said.
Bass found out he was being deployed in August, giving him 60 days to get ready, which was plenty of time, he said.
With the war in Iraq in full swing after 512 years and with most troops serving multiple rotations in the war-torn region, Bass is preparing to serve his first deployment.
And his assignment to support a medical unit with logistics is the only time Bass has been on active duty since the Gulf War.
"That's unusual, with me being in the IRR [Individual Ready Reserve] and earning points" that he counts toward a retirement pension, Bass said.
"I've had some friends called up with two weeks notice. That's a huge turn-your-life-upside-down-in-a-hurry," he said.
But even with 60 days notice, having the president of a small company such as Automation Creations leave the area can be a deal-changer if one doesn't plan things out, said John Phillips, an Army reservist deployed in 2005 to provide training to the Iraqi army.
Phillips owns Mayflower Premier Transfer & Storage in Blacksburg and has helped Bass set up a steering committee that will independently oversee operations.
"I don't think any company is going to have quite the clear strategic direction without the leadership of the president or owner," Phillips said.
So it's imperative to hire "people who probably have abilities that they might not otherwise use who step up to the plate and will come through and rise to the occasion."
Bass said that with Fleming and Dale Kipp, who oversees much of the company's technical operations, he's confident the business can move forward smoothly.
The company does much of its business creating Web-based software applications for companies looking to enhance their online operations, but the company's bread and butter is a searchable materials database for engineers called MatWeb.
That means that in Bass' absence, the company will have routine day-to-day tasks such as keeping MatWeb updated, but employees will also spend more time innovating and meeting with clients, a responsibility Fleming said often fell to Bass.
Aside from day-to-day operations and the steering committee -- which will meet monthly to act as a sounding board for new projects and to review financials -- Bass' wife, Lisa, will spend one day a week in the office and will hold power of attorney.
Although Henry Bass will have access to a phone and the Internet, he said that the plan is set up so that the company acts "as if I won't be available at all, and the rest is bonus."
Lisa Bass said her husband's longtime involvement with the military has turned him into "a good leader for the family and for his business," which gives her confidence that things will go smoothly while he's away.
But that doesn't mean she doesn't worry about his safety.
"At the same time that it's scary, it's also proud for us," Lisa Bass said.
Her sons, ages 9 and 13, are old enough to ask questions about their dad's deployment and help around the house, so that's positive, she said.
The family sees Henry Bass' service, however risky, as a sacrifice that is "for the good of the country," she said.
"I've told him, there's no need for him to see the countryside or buy any souvenirs," Lisa Bass said, highlighting her safety concerns.
"Just continue the mission of what he's been sent over there to do."
For his part, Henry Bass said he's looking for the opportunity to use his background as a mechanical engineer to help support what he calls a "fragile stabilization" effort.
"There's always risk -- I do feel like I've been well trained for this position, and I'm prepared to go. This is what we train for," he said. "It's an opportunity to apply my skills and talents. I know I can be of help to U.S. forces."
Back at home, Henry Bass sees his time away as an opportunity for Kipp and Fleming to grow and take on new responsibilities.
They both already showed tremendous capacity for leadership, he said, "but this kind of forces them a little bit to take the helm."
Phillips said his own deployment also offered unparalleled growth opportunities to his senior managers, saying that "one of the most valuable things we learned is that it takes an extraordinary team ... to support a mobilized reservist that owns his own company."
"That team has to come together and have good financial reporting and really work as the owner would," Phillips said.
"They've got a great product, and I think they are ready."
