Salute to Alumni

George Sissel, continued

"Engineering provided a wonderful platform for me to do pretty much whatever I wanted," Sissel says. After the Navy, he decided to attend law school, and the combination of that and his technical background landed him a job as legal counsel to Ball Aerospace & Technologies group, a subsidiary of Ball Corporation. He rose through the company, was appointed to the senior staff, and eventually, in 1994, took the top seat as Ball's chairman and chief executive officer. A Fortune 500 company based in Broomfield, Colorado, Ball has 78 locations worldwide with $3.6 billion in annual revenues in food and beverage packaging and the aerospace industry.

Sissel led Ball through a critical period of growth in which he significantly expanded its international packaging business, established a new business area in PET plastic beverage bottles, and doubled its aluminum packaging with the acquisition of Reynolds Metal Company. Sissel is proud to also have directed the development of an employee training program at Ball aimed at continuing the corporation's 120-year tradition of integrity and high ethical values.

The 1958 EE grad says he has enjoyed a "halo effect" throughout his career because of his engineering background. "When I'm in a plant— and I visit as often as possible—they see me as someone they can communicate with," he says. But Sissel says the key to his personal success was developing breadth and focusing on short-term planning. "Don't do too much long-term planning—at least don't become wed to your long-term plan," he says. "Most great opportunities for me were ones I never imagined."