How I Started
By: Peter Kurilecz CRM, CA, IGP, FAI

When You Come to the Fork in the Road, Take It.

It’s hard to believe but it has been over 40 years since I started my career in records and information management. Not all professional careers are linear. In my case I followed the advice of Yogi Berra which was when asked how to get to his house in New Jersey said, “when you come to the fork in the road, take it.” That advice has served me well. 

But before I start reminiscing about my career please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Pete Kurilecz, native-born Texan I have two degrees in History, and hold three certifications (Certified Records Manager, Certified Archivist Emeritus and Information Governance Professional). I am also a Fellow of ARMA International​.

I have two children both of whom live in the United Kingdom. My daughter graduated from Newcastle University and Kings College London where she studied law.  She currently works for the Medicins Sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders) as a Support Development Manager. She, her husband and their 2 year old daughter live in Southend on Sea in Essex.

My son read history at Christ’s College Cambridge University which he graduated from. He is a Senior Press Officer for the UK Department of Transportation.

History has always been a passion of mine since I was a young boy. You would always find a book in my hand, even if I was walking down the street. I studied history at Vanderbilt University graduating in 1974. Following graduation, I applied to and was accepted into graduate school. The program I eventually graduated from intrigued me because they offered course work in archives administration. I thought, “how cool would that be to work with original historical material”. More interesting than teaching, which was the only other option available. Part of the program was to do an internship at an archive. I spent my internship in the Dallas Public Library’s local history collection. Following completion of the internship I was offered a position there as the archivist for the Historic Photograph Collection.

What a fabulous position to hold. The collection had more than a quarter million images (negatives, transparencies, and prints) primarily of Dallas and North Texas. Since this was pre-PC days (1980-84) I developed a visual index file that allowed researchers to access the collection without having to view the original materials. I also developed several exhibits from the collection that attracted thousands of visitors. During this time, I was a member of the Society of American Archivists and the Society of Southwest Archivists.

Towards the end of 1984 I decided that it was time to change my career’s direction. This is when I discovered records management. I had realized that although I enjoyed working with archival material it did not afford me with the ability to support a family; another path I had started down when I got  married. Records management offered me greater opportunities, and so I found employment with a major oil and gas company located in Dallas, Texas where I lived.

At the same time, I became a member of ARMA International, a group that I have belonged to now for over 30 years. (more about ARMA later) With this company I achieved several firsts, among them my first retention schedule, transferring thousands of cubic feet of records from San Francisco and Amarillo, selecting a commercial records storage vendor and provide support for lawsuits and tax audit. The last one was a real challenge as I had to locate and retrieve original invoices that totaled more than $250 million dollars. Failure to produce them would mean paying the full tax on the invoice. In the end I located the records (thanks to the inventory I had done previously) and was able to save the company an estimated $25 million dollars. It was at this company that I also learned about the Institute of Certified Records Managers.

My father once told me that no matter what profession I went into that if they have a certification, I should pursue it. In 1986 I applied to take the Certified Records Managers exams. Back in those days we would take the exams in “blue books”, wait several weeks to receive word as to whether or not we passed. Taking those exams were truly a test of my RIM knowledge. I successfully passed Part VI in the summer of 1988.

In 1988 due to a downturn in the oil and gas industry, I relocated my family to Houston Texas where I took a position with Enron and later Aramco Services Company (ASC). The latter is a subsidiary of Saudi Aramco. With that connection I completed two business assignments in Saudi Arabia (1993 and 1995). Working at ASC I was slowly moving into the world of electronic records and unstructured content management. I was able to implement a network-based system that allowed users to search for inactive records (paper) held in our facility while at the same time we were able to associate those records with the corporate retention schedule. But my work was not just limited to records management I also supervised the Word Processing Unit, Forms Management and Purchasing. The latter involved all corporate purchases with a value of less than $2500. In 1992 I traveled to Montreal where I sat for the Certified Archivist exam, a single multi-choice exam which I successfully passed.  In 1997 after 7 very interesting and worthwhile years at ASC I relocated once again this time to Richmond Virginia.

In Richmond I joined a systems integrator that was designing and developing an electronic document/records management system for a large state agency. This at a time when there were no off the shelf programs. We were also conducting records inventories for the agency and developing records retention schedules from the inventories. The company also worked with a major health system to inventory their records and create retention schedules. Unfortunately, as happens not infrequently contracts run out and are not renewed. The company laid off employees and eventually it was my turn. Time to find a new position.

Fortunately, I found work with a contractor located in Northern Virginia that had a contract with the Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS). Rather than uproot my family again I ended up commuting each week up to Washington. Our task was to help one of INS’ departments find a software product to automate their primary business process. My assignment was to develop a functional requirements document and to identify potential vendors.

During this time frame (2001 to 2003) Congress had passed and the President signed into law Sarbanes-Oxley. This legislation opened many doors for RIM professionals. We saw salaries double as corporations sought out people who held the CRM designation. Luckily for me I landed a position with Nextel as their corporate records manager reporting to the Chief Privacy Officer. I worked closely with lawyers to develop contracts that included records retention requirements as well as taking over and managing our off-site storage contract. 

One day I received an email asking if I would like to join a company called FileNet to help them market their new DOD 5015 certified records management application. I jumped at the opportunity partially because I could work from home. Learning the ins and outs of a major software application was a thrill. Eventually FileNet was acquired by IBM and I moved from the product marketing side to helping customers implement what they had purchased. For 8 years I traveled around the US, Canada and even Europe assisting customers. Towards the end of my time with IBM I returned to Texas after 16 years in Virginia.

During my time with IBM, I ran for a seat on ARMA International’s Board of Directors. Boy was I surprised when I got elected. After 3 years on the Board, I took the plunge and ran for President-elect. Again, I was shocked. Six years as a member of the ARMA leadership is an experience I will never forget. Never in my mind did I think that I would end up leading my professional association nor did I ever dream of becoming a Fellow of ARMA International.

After moving back to Texas, I left IBM as part of a resource allocation, and ended up working for Denton County as their assistant manager for electronic records. My IBM experience came into play as the county wanted to implement an enterprise content management (ECM) system. During my time with the County, I helped educate them about ECM systems and the effort it would take to get one put in place. Working in Denton was another long commute as I lived in South Dallas County, eventually I was hired by an oil and gas company in Irving.

Eventually I ended up as the Records Management Officer for the City of Dallas. I’ll becoming up to my 5-year anniversary in June. It is a highly satisfying position, one which sees my calling on all my past experiences. We are currently seeking out a new software application to replace our 30-year-old FoxPro database. Recently we narrowed our selection down to 3 vendors and sat through 3-hours of vendor demonstrations. It has been a long 3 years to get to this point in time.

Overall, I’ve been employed by 11 different employers over the past 40 years the most recent one being the City of Dallas. I never would have imagined 40 years ago that I would end up working for as many companies as I have. The key takeaway from this is that at each employer I gained new skills and was able to expand my horizons, meet new people and experience new geographical areas. Changing jobs may not be for everyone, but for me it was critical for my career.

So, to play off the title of this piece, “when you come to the fork in the road, take it”. In the archives and records management profession one never knows where they will end up. You may stay with the same group for your entire career slowly moving up while others may follow in my path working at a variety of organizations. There is no one way to grow your career. I’ll close with this anecdote. Yogi Berra, a famous American baseball player, would invite people to come visit him and the guests would ask “well how do I get there?” He would tell them the route and close with “when you come to the fork in the road, take it”. Basically, it means that if faced with a choice, make it and don’t second guess yourself. My career has consisted of a series of forks in the road, and I’ve never regretted the decisions I made at each fork.

If you have any questions you can reach me at pakurilecz@gmail.com

If you’re on LinkedIn feel free to connect with me at http://www.linkedin.com/in/peterakurilecz

To learn more about the Certified Records Manager and Certified Records Analyst designations go here http://www.icrm.org, for ARMA International check out http://www.arma.org. Good luck to one and all.

Peter also has a keen interest in Photography. To see his images go to: https://www.flickr.com/photos/pak152/album