Summer 2000

Chuck Sigman - Distinguished Young Alumni

In the late 1970s, Chuck Sigman couldn't walk across the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology campus without being recognized by students, faculty members or administrators.   As fellow classmate Daniel Hatten says, "Chuck knew -- and cared -- about everyone on campus."

After all, Sigman was president of the Blue Key honor society, an active member of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity, chairman of the Rose Show and even dressed up as "Rosie," the college's elephant mascot.

Twenty years later, returning to accept a Distinguished Young Alumnus award, it was if he had never left.  During an on-campus interview, the 1980 chemical engineering graduate had chance encounters with his past, recalling lectures and essay questions -- in vivid detail -- presented by political science professor Thad Smith, being reintroduced to Hatten, and greeting professors Ronald Artigue and Jerry Caskey.  It was quite a homecoming.

"I just wish the kids could see this," Sigman stated. His wife, Betsy, seated nearby, nodded in agreement.

Then, as if he was caught up in the moment, he exclaimed, "You're making me feel like I am somebody."

Sigman is not the President of the United States, but he may be as close as a Rose-Hulman alumnus will ever get, being financial manager of information systems and technology for the Office of Administration of the Executive Office of the United States President. His office is located in the New Executive Office Building, across the street from the White House.

For the past two years, Sigman has been responsible for developing and executing the budget to ensure the President's Office was prepared for Y2K -- under intense scrutiny from congressional subcommittees and budget reviewers. The $30 million initiative included replacing all computers and software for non-classified offices, changing the President's Office record keeping and personnel processing systems, and reorganizing administrative matters.

"It's been a satisfying and rewarding year, professionally," the Mississippi native said. "January 1, 2000, came and went without calamity. We were prepared to handle anything."

Sigman's office also manages the contractors that maintain the White House's official web site (www.whitehouse.gov), one of the world's most popular sites; manages an annual $15 million budget for technology; ensures that priority projects are accepted and appropriately funded by superiors; and proper documentation is kept on file.

These efforts haven't gone unnoticed. This past year, Sigman received an award for reorganizing the finances of the EOP computer center. In 1996, he was honored for reorganizing the zip codes for the different agencies of the White House, a process that separated business mail from general correspondence -- no simple task for a governmental operation that receives thousands of letters daily.

Sigman had firsthand knowledge of the cumbersome mailroom operation: One of his first federal jobs was addressing the President's reply to letters written by children.

"When things get hectic in the office, I long for those carefree days when I worked on the children's labels," admits Sigman, an 18-year federal government employee. "I'm not out to conquer the world. I don't have any political aspirations . . . The political process can be hard on federal employees. Every administration has its own way of doing things. It will be no different on January 20, 2001 (when a new President takes office). You learn to adapt, make sure your superiors know what you're doing and have everything well-documented."

Many of those lessons were learned in the classroom from professors Noel Moore, Calvin Dyer, Peter Parshall and Artigue.

"I'm always reminding our staff that they can't 'buy a distillation column without paying attention to the pumps,' which was part of a chemical engineering economics class," Sigman related. "It's that attention to detail and being able to dissect a problem, learned at Rose-Hulman, that I use every day. I was also taught to write clearly."

Sigman's career moved toward finance after earning a master's degree in business administration at Indiana University in 1982. He met Betsy during an internship with the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based conservative think tank. Betsy is now a business professor at Georgetown University, teaching information technology. The couple has four children, with the oldest beginning high school this fall.

"I don't feel like I'm changing the landscape of America -- and I feel like some of my classmates are out there doing just that," he said. "I do have a good life and my family is very important to me. In Washington, it's easy to get distracted from what's important. Hopefully, I'm well-grounded."
And, well-remembered at Rose-Hulman.