Autobiography - The Galindo Group

Ram Galindo THE MAKING OF AN AMERICAN Page 137
During his college years Cid continued to take an interest in my business activities and
in addition to learning about development, in his junior and senior years he became
resident manager of a 148-unit apartment complex I had developed. While doing this,
he created employment for a few more Aggies who went to school with him and
assisted him in management duties. Upon graduation, his academic standing, among
the highest in the university, coupled with his extra-curricular activities and his business
experience with me, again made him the object of heavy recruiting by some nationally
recognized graduate business schools.
Among the remarkable accomplishments he achieved at A&M was the top leadership of
the organization SCONA whose functions I had attended as a graduate student myself,
and where I became inspired to participate in the desegregation of the school’s
basketball arena (see Seeding Grounds, Chapter 2). Prior to his graduation he told me
that he had decided to postpone graduate school and that he would attempt to turn
Aerofit around. This, to me and to him, was a momentous decision. He justified it by
stating that he saw it as his duty to attempt to rescue the family’s fortune. I think he
mostly felt sorry for me but didn’t want to tell me so. In any case, I was tremendously
happy and moved by his decision.
In a period of two years, from September 1986 to August 1988, I saw him working
twelve-hour days seven days a week for weeks at a time, Cid stopped the
hemorrhaging and stabilized the business. He did this by radically changing the
business model, developing a new marketing program, building a strong esprit-de-corps
in the personnel, obtaining credibility among the vendors, re-negotiating payment terms
on the bank note and striving for greater client satisfaction. I will always remember the
day he came into my office to announce that he needed one more capital contribution
from me but that it would be the last. I was skeptical but he was right. From that day on I
never had to advance another penny to Aerofit. His tenure as manager was the turning
point for the company. When he departed, the company had taken off and was climbing
toward a successful maturity. Having accomplished his purpose, he finally was able to
pursue graduate studies. He went on to the University of Texas at Austin where he
simultaneously completed master of business administration and master of Latin
American studies degrees.
Cid was not the only member of the family who contributed to the success of Aerofit.
Both his sisters helped. My second child and first daughter, Kim, was, for a while, a
receptionist and part of her duties were to open the doors at 5:30 a.m. every morning. In
four years of work as a college student, Lis became the top sales person in the
organization and helped cover her university education expenses with her salary.
Three years after Cid left the manager’s position, in late 1991 Lis came back as a brand
new college graduate to run the business. She also worked tireless hours, sometimes
from sunrise to sunrise, week in and week out. The stress of the job took a toll on her
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