Stories by Alice Dragoon

Urban Cowboy

Nick Gleason isn't your garden-variety CEO. Sure, he's got an MBA from Harvard, and yeah, he's running an Internet startup. But Gleason's background also includes stints like building houses with Habitat for Humanity and working for the San Francisco Janitor's Union. So the company he cofounded in 1997 bears the imprint of a veteran community activist as well as that of an entrepreneur.

The Man from Interpol

He began his 30-year career in law enforcement as a bobby on the beat in London and once helped track down an IRA bomber. But today, Peter J. Nevitt fights crime on a global scale as director of IS at Interpol.

CRM Strategy Jane's Adventure in CRMLand

The logic behind customer relationship management (CRM) is hardly rocket science: If you design your business around your most desirable customers' wants and needs, they're likely to become better, more profitable customers. But whether your business is selling jet propulsion engines or cheese doodles, organizing the enterprise around customers' needs is easier said than done.