DMN: NTEC Tenant Greenjobs.pro founder Dennis Cail Interview

Pursue opportunities with a passion, says founder of Dallas-area green firms

Sunday, May 02, 2010

By SHERYL JEAN / The Dallas Morning News

Dennis Cail is proof that business and personal principles don't have to contradict one another.

Cail blends a technology background with green interests in his latest ventures. He runs three Dallas-area companies, but has started about 10 in the last 15 years. Late last year, Cail co-founded GreenJobs.pro, an environmental job site. In 2008, he formed Alternative Business Solutions, a consulting and software firm to help companies track and offset carbon emissions, after finishing Stanford University's Business Strategies for Environmental Sustainability program.

Those companies fit like a puzzle with his 9-year-old Komia Corp., a management and technology consulting firm with clients such as IBM, Johnson & Johnson and Starbucks.

Born in Monroe, La., Cail, 40, is the oldest of six children in a close-knit family where everyone pitched in.

He found capitalism at a young age. Cail became so busy in his first job raking leaves that he hired 25 kids to help. He was 8.

After college, Cail entered the corporate world, working at Computer Science Corp., IBM and EDS (now HP Services) for about a decade.

Cail still managed to feed his entrepreneurial cravings. In 1990 while at EDS, he started a staffing firm in his apartment that he later sold to a Chicago company. In 2002 while at CSC, he worked as an independent consultant, growing to 30 employees in a year.

But he failed with an online apartment finder.

"I didn't know what I was doing," Cail said. He learned not to do "anything you're not passionate about."

It's a smart strategy, says Charles Morgan, former CEO of Acxiom Corp.

"He sees business opportunity in areas where he has a passion," said Morgan, a Dallas resident who mentors Cail. "He's not sitting at home waiting for things to happen. He's a change-agent kind of guy."

Cail walks the talk: He recycles, belongs to a business group focused on sustainable practices, invests in other young companies and often walks to work from his townhouse in Dallas' Uptown area. He's writing a book on the missing components of how companies measure and manage their carbon emissions.

"He has a very acute knowledge of what works and what doesn't work," said Karl Northrop, an investor in GreenJobs and Cail's partner in Sips & Bites, a Dallas cafe and lounge they hope to open later this year. "He can identify those things that don't work and not spend a lot of time on them."

When not working, Cail likes to travel to places like Egypt and Japan. A sharp dresser, he made Modern Luxury magazine's list last month of Dallas' "most dapper dudes."

Next up for Cail is a more personal venture. He and his wife Annika are expecting their first child.Dennis Cail

Education: Bachelor's in computer science, Florida State University; MBA, Southern Methodist University; Business Strategies for Environmental Sustainability certificate, Stanford University

Business philosophy: Always give everyone more than what they expect.

Most important leadership lesson: It's easy to get caught up in the hype, and I've learned that the hard way. I'm constantly reassessing my existing strategy.

What you would do differently: Find mentors earlier

Biggest paycheck: A $30,000 signing bonus at IBM when I was 27

Best asset: My passion for people and places

Worst habit: Eating late

Drives: Mercedes-Benz CLK 320 convertible

Reading: Hot, Flat and Crowded by Thomas L. Friedman

Nobody knows: I collect Starbucks coffee cups from cities I've visited.

Best advice for a 20-year-old entrepreneur: Seize every opportunity, and surround yourself with people who've been there and done that.

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