High-Technology Veteran to Lead Pick Systems : Management: Longtime executive George Olenik will guide computer software company whose founder, Richard Pick, died in October.
A longtime high-technology industry executive has been appointed chief executive of Pick Systems Inc., the computer database system and software maker said Monday.
George E. Olenik, 62, most recently was a high-tech industry investment consultant for Inco Venture Capital Management, a New York firm that provides start-up and growth capital for a variety of businesses. As chief executive of Irvine-based Pick Systems, Olenik will be responsible for guiding a company whose founder, industry pioneer Richard A. Pick, died Oct. 17.
Olenik said Monday that his “immediate objective” is to let customers know that Pick Systems, despite its founder’s death, is “very much active . . . (and) competitive.” He said he does not think the company has faltered because of Pick’s illness and death.
“Any time you have a company that was run for 25 years by an entrepreneur, people perceive that with the entrepreneur’s death the company will go away,” Olenik said. “That is not the case here.”
Olenik has a long association with Pick Systems: From 1970 to 1980 he was senior vice president of Microdata Corp. and was instrumental in negotiating that landmark Orange County technology firm’s rights to market the operating system developed by Richard Pick.
Microdata Corp. was started in Newport Beach in the early 1960s and became one of the region’s preeminent business computer system makers. It was acquired in 1979 by McDonnell Douglas Co. and became part of the core of the giant aerospace company’s Irvine-based information systems division.
The Pick system is a so-called open architecture system that is compatible with most types of computers and software. It is a specialized system that is used for development of complicated business software and for operating many types of business computer systems.
Privately owned Pick Systems says its products are installed on 250,000 computer systems and used by 3 million people worldwide. The company, which has about 120 employees, does not release revenue and profit figures.
Olenik’s career spans more than 30 years in the high-technology industry, centering on the computer business and specializing in marketing, finance, engineering and operations management.
A Newport Beach resident, he also has served as president and director of Micro Five Corp. of Costa Mesa, as a vice president at Nova-Tech Inc. in Los Angeles and as director of operations at Redcor Corp. of Canoga Park.
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Profile:
George E. Olenik
Title: Chief executive officer, Pick Systems, Irvine
Residence: Newport Beach
Age: 62
Credentials: Bachelor’s in business administration, Syracuse University, 1954.
Background: Analyst consultant for Inco Venture Capital Management. Formerly president and board member, Micro Five Corp., Costa Mesa, and vice president at Nova-Tech, Los Angeles. Former director of operations at Redcor Corp., Canoga Park.
Source: Pick Systems
