Hal Prewitt:  

Life as of February 2012 While in school, I worked in construction, washed dishes and cooked among other interesting jobs including starting a business. After High School, I attended Daytona Beach Community College and did jobs related to computers, boats and aircraft. In 1976, I left town to attend Florida Atlantic University (FAU) in Boca Raton, but dropped out before finishing therefor never graduated. The business grew and I became a successful entrepreneur involved in the computer software, electronics, marine and agricultural industries. As one of the early creators of personal computer products, I developed popular software and hardware while helping build a new industry. This was the time during which microcomputers were developed, the Altair 8800 was launched and Microsoft and Apple Computer were founded. I provided consulting services to IBM just prior to the introduction of their first personal computer (PC) and was credited with inventing hard disk drives and a local area network for their first portable and desktop series computers. Created numerous disk drives, controllers and authored many business software applications and utilities. One of them, COREtest, a computer program written in conjunction with my development team, became the industry standard and most often quoted benchmark used to test, evaluate and compare performance of hard disk drives. Many of the products we developed were the first of their kind, had no direct competition and were widely regarded for their superior performance and reliability. My skills were in computer programming and engineering, but I also founded and managed a number of technology companies. The largest and best known was Core International, Inc started in 1979 and well known as an industry leading developer of disk array, computer data storage and backup products. I was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer until 1993 when the company was sold to Sony. I partially retired at 38 to finish raising two sons; the oldest is now an MIT graduate. I have also served as an elected official...Expand for more