Eckart Wintzen

Born in the Netherlands, he studied mathematics and physics and worked for ten years for multinationals such as Philips Computer Industry and European Space Research. In 1973, he established the information systems branch of the Dutch daughter company of American General Telephone, bought the struggling company for just ten guilders and renamed it BSO (Bureau for Systems Development). Eckart resigned in 1996 when BSO/Origin, with 10,000 employees and offices in 75 cities in 25 countries, merged with Philips, the very place where he had started.