James Reel

This 2002 Outstanding Alumnus found unusual after-school employment while he was a student (Class of 1957) at ETSU. He not only worked as a projectionist at WJHL-TV11, but also played a cowboy/puppeteer named “Dallas” on a children’s program. In 1976 he built upon his educational credentials, this time earning a legal degree from the Woodrow Wilson College of Law.

In 1980, he founded his first business, Insurance Publishing and Computers, Inc., in Norcross, Georgia. Foreseeing the impact of computers, Reel designed software for insurance representatives to use in the field, allowing portable technology capable of handling needs analysis and interest-sensitive product illustration programs in English, French, and Spanish. Before selling the company in 1983, Reel saw his product used throughout North and South America in over 70,000 computers, earning him the title “Father of the Hand-Held Computer.”

As his next enterprise, Reel became co-founder of International Computer Marketing Corporation in 1985. In the first year, he and one co-worker produced about $100,000 in revenues. The company now has a staff of 90 and over $150 million in revenues, installing more than 33,000 computer packages in teleco service vehicles last year. In 1991, his ICM Corp. was ranked the 32 nd fastest growing company in the nation, and by the year 2000 had risen to eighth.

In addition to many professional and civic activities, Reel is a past president and board member of ETSU’s National Alumni Association, co-founder of ETSU’s “Committee of 1000” million-dollar scholarship endowment, and a member of the ETSU Foundation as well as the Distinguished President’s Trust Silver Society. His abiding interest in students led him to participate on the ETSU College of Business Board of Advisors, to visit the campus and lecture to current students, and to help select students for ETSU’s elite Roan Scholars Leadership Program.

He and his wife, Anne, a 1966 ETSU graduate, have established a Roan Scholars Leadership Scholarship in memory of his father, W.E. Reel. Recognizing that excellent ETSU faculty are absolutely essential to the educational experiences of our students, they have established the James and Anne Reel College of Business Faculty Fellowship to assist a prominent member of the faculty in his or her research and service to the region, especially as this work affects farmers who are transitioning to the newer economy.

The Reels have a daughter, Susanne. They enjoy homes in Atlanta and Jonesborough as well as a farm in Virginia.