Where Are They Now?
James Cash
CASH (WITH THEN-CELTIC RICKY DAVIS): After blazing a trail as a college hoops star and a long career at HBS, he still possesses a nose for the ball and a knack for being where the action is.
Photo by BRIAN SNYDER/REUTERS
James Cash has always been around the cutting edge. An Academic All-American basketball star at Texas Christian University, he was not only TCU’s first African American basketball player but also the first in the entire Southwest Conference. In 1975, about the same time a kid named Bill Gates opened a shoestring operation called Microsoft, Cash was closing in on his doctorate in management information systems from Purdue. He joined the HBS faculty in 1976 and helped build the School’s curriculum in the nascent area of computer-based technology. With a few savvy, prescient students, he launched the Computer Industry and Technology Club (today’s TechMedia Club) in 1978, and thus came to know many of the future leaders of the high-tech revolution. In 27 years at HBS, he taught in all its major programs, was chair of the MBA Program, and was senior associate dean for HBS Publishing.
As he began to see the children of former students in his classroom, Cash contemplated his future. “I thought by transitioning early I could build a new career and contribute to society on a wider scale,” he observes, describing his decision to retire in 2003 at age 55. He resolved to work in areas and on issues that inspired “as much passion and vigor as I was taught to invest in my work at HBS.”
Today, Cash devotes himself to several principal pursuits. In addition to the BSG/Concours Executive Forum, an invitation-only program for chief information officers (CIOs) of leading companies worldwide, he runs a six-month leadership development program for future CIOs, using distance learning products from HBS Publishing. In the nonprofit realm, his commitments encompass his interests in health-care delivery and initiatives to improve education in disadvantaged communities. The rest of his time is spent in service on corporate boards. He’s teamed up with Bill Gates at Microsoft, in addition to sitting on the boards of GE, Chubb Corporation, Wal-Mart, and Phase Forward.
Another of his abiding passions is sports. His wife, Clemmie, refers to him as a “Professional Sports Attendee” because he has season tickets to Patriots, Red Sox, and Celtics games. So when he was invited to join the ownership group that bought the Boston Celtics in 2003, it took him “about a nanosecond” to accept. “To be affiliated with an organization that has been such an inspiration for me, since age nine, is a dream come true,” notes Cash. He got his now-coveted courtside season tickets — “the only ones where my legs fit” — a few years ago when a fair-weather fan turned them in during a spell when the now formidable Celtics were underperforming.
Before and after games and at halftime, colleagues, former students, Celtics players, and any number of people who call Cash a mentor or a friend stop by to visit. “I still have to defend myself against Joe O’Donnell’s [MBA ’71] unfounded claim that he took me in one-on-one games when he worked at HBS,” Cash says with mock disdain. An avid golfer today, Cash is also subject to ribbing from those who recall the days when he questioned whether golf was a true athletic pursuit.
Cash looks forward to participating in the HBS Centennial Global Business Summit in October. “I am committed to supporting the School for the rest of my life,” he says.
