FROM ENGINEERING CO-OP TO
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CEO
Born into the "father-knows-best" family home of Robert and Margaret Meier in a Cincinnati, Ohio suburb, her parents nicknamed Margaret, the oldest of their four children, Marnie, to avoid confusion with mom.
Unlike many fathers of the time, Robert Meier didn't track his daughter into a life of women's work. The General Electric engineer who specialized in jet turbine engines allowed his daughter to grow up doing the things that he enjoyed. At an early age, Marnie learned to work with her father doing "man's" work as well as helping her mother.
At the University of Cincinnati, she continued to follow what was considered a non-traditional path for women. She earned a merit scholarship from Cincinnati Milacron, Inc., a multi-national machine tool company headquartered in Cincinnati. She entered the College of Engineering where she majored in Mechanical Engineering and received her BSME Degree in 1980.
Upon graduation, she continued to pursue an untraditionally female path by accepting a position with Caterpillar, Inc. While at Cat, her career focused on their diesel engine marketing division. There, she specialized in truck engines and power generation, and became familiar with Federal marketing and contracting procedures.
In 1982, Margaret, as she has been called since leaving Cincinnati, took a six month sabbatical in Puerto Rico with her new husband, Major Cox. The couple took enough time from running on the beach, playing in the surf and other pursuits of leisure to earn their pilot's licenses.
In 1983, they returned to the United States. Locating in Alabama, on the site of Major's birthplace, the Cox family's early 19th century cotton and timber plantation; they formed Smut Eye Wood Company, Inc. and began a restoration project that continues today.
In 1984, Margaret entered the U.S. Air Force (both, her parents served in the military during World War II). While she had worked with computer-controlled machine tools and computer-aided marketing analysis, this was the beginning of her love-affair with computers and information technology. She began her tour in the Air Force Defense Data Network Office (a predecessor of the DISNet, the Internet and the World Wide Web). She also worked with early radio frequency connections for terminals. While living in Montgomery, she completed her Master in Business Administration at Troy State University Montgomery. The affair which Margaret started with computers in the Air Force continued long beyond her active duty assignments.
In 1990, the former Air Force captain took a position with ETA Technologies. She worked on several Air Force and DISA projects while a program manager with the California-based firm. While there, she was profiled as a top performer. In 1994, opportunity called again.
This time, opportunity was the number two position in the Montgomery, Alabama office of SenCom Corporation, a Boston-based technology company. Margaret would remain at SenCom until 1997, when she launched TEAM Support, Inc.
When not analyzing IT issues or restoring her 160-year old plantation house, Margaret rides, trains, and raises American Quarter Horses.
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