Skip to content

Pittsburgh Tech 25: They Call Him Dr. C.

By Jonathan Kersting

Over the last 24 years, I’ve encountered countless men and women who have dreamt, scaled and sold successful tech companies in Pittsburgh. But it’s not every day that you get to know a man who invented the modern conference call, can “fix” an IBM supercomputer and get inducted into the Space Hall of Fame on top of that.

I want to kick off this series with Dr. Giorgio Coraluppi, Founder of Compunetix, Compunetics and Chorus Call. Most people know him as Dr. C.

What really impresses me most about Dr. C. was founding Compunetics way back in 1968 and growing it and its sibling companies to employ 650, 360 of them right here in the Pittsburgh region. Even better yet, Dr. C. came to Pittsburgh from Italy underscoring the importance of Pittsburgh to attract and retain talent from around the world. Even 60 years ago!

A Little History

Way back in 1964, Dr. C. says he answered an ad in his local paper in Milan, where his family had moved from the Abruzzo region of central Italy, announcing that American Optical company was looking for engineering talent. (Hmm, not much has changed in 60 plus years.)

“I answered the ad,” says Dr. C. “I didn’t know Pittsburgh from Kansas City. I thought this could be an opportunity.”

A few years after moving to Pittsburgh, Dr. C. enrolled at Carnegie Mellon University where he earned a master’s degree in electrical engineering. Fascinated with microchips, Dr. C. founded Compunetics with two others in 1968.

Compunetix, Compunetics and Chorus Call’s headquarters are nestled in Monroeville on Mosside Boulevard, not far from the original Compunetics office located behind an ice cream store in Penn Hills.

Compunetix has become a leading manufacturer of sophisticated electronics, delivering the communication industry’s largest worldwide deployment of digital collaboration platforms. Compunetics manufactures printed circuit boards for the defense, aerospace, communication, high speed computing, medical and semiconductor markets for rigid, flexible and rigid-flex printed circuit boards. Chorus Call provides premium Audio Conferencing, Video Conferencing, Audio & Video Media Streaming, and Collaboration Tools.

Like its founder, his companies are quiet and intentional, but have all made a loud impact in this industry. They let their customers do all of the talking.

First Encounter

I first met Dr. C. in the early 2000s. I was sent to take a picture of him for an article that was to appear in TEQ. It was the first time I went to his office. I used to drive past it all the time when I was a news reporter in Monroeville. The green and white façade was hard to miss. I was impressed that they took up the whole building!

We set up our gear in the boardroom. It was pretty sweet. Big leather chairs lined up like soldiers. A massive table large enough for a football scrimmage. There were even ashtrays at every sitting. This was old-school cool. A place where big deals were struck.

A secretary said Dr. C. would be in shortly and he was short on time. We would have to be quick. When he entered the room, there was an aura of seriousness and professionalism rarely seen. You could see and feel decades of business and tech experience living behind his black, thick-rimmed glasses. His white shirt was perfectly pressed. This man knew his stuff!

He greeted us with a surprisingly soft and gentle voice given his domineering presence. Without direction, he stood even taller, looked to the side and cracked a very slight smile. My art director didn’t want to waste any time and started shooting as many shots as he could. Dr. C in three-quarter profile with white blinds in the background. He broke the pose and asked if we were done. We took that as a clue that we were done. He gently thanked us and his secretary escorted him out of the room.

The pics came out fine. Maybe a little stoic, but that is Dr. C.’s style. As the years went on, I would see Dr. C. more and more. Especially at our board meetings. He always made it a point to say hello. I was starting to appreciate Dr. C as I would learn how he had invested in or helped other tech companies get off the ground. I discovered his work to help get the Tech Council launched back in 1983, too. I would meet employees that told stories of his inspiring management style.

I got to know more about the man and his companies as TEQ and TechVibe Radio covered Compunetix’s 50th anniversary back in 2018.

My boss and TechVibe Radio Cohost Audrey Russo and I interviewed Dr. C. for one of our Deep Dive shows. It was our chance to learn about the early days of Compunetix. Get the inside scoop on what it took to get the company off the ground.

He greeted us with a surprisingly soft and gentle voice given his domineering presence. Without direction, he stood even taller, looked to the side and cracked a very slight smile.

He told us stories as if it were yesterday. The stories were fascinating and even comical. From making a last-minute stop at Sears to get folding chairs for potential customers that would be visiting in a few days to narrowly making payroll until a long-awaited contract came in, Dr. C. and his team rode the wave like any startup entrepreneur. Even if it was 50 years ago!

Dr. C. emphasizes how corporate values have been key to his companies’ longevity, achievements and continued success. He noted that this is often missing in many organizations today, particularly in the fast-changing world of technology. 

Ask Dr. C. about being inducted into the Space Technology Hall of Fame in 2020 for Compunetix’s role in designing, developing and commercializing collaborative voice communication platforms for NASA space missions, and you get the expected humble, yet technical reply:

“Compunetix is honored to be recognized for our efforts in expanding the capability and commercial application of multipoint voice conferencing. The innovative work we produced for NASA in the 1980s directly set the stage for the current convergence around digital collaboration workspaces,” he said.

What People Are Saying

This kind of work coupled with the culture and values Dr. C. put into place has inspired its employees. Just ask Mike Hockenberry Executive Vice President and Manager, Federal Systems Division.

“I was performing an annual performance review for one of my program managers, and I asked them, ‘What gets you excited about coming to work?’” said Hockenberry. “And he didn’t bat an eye. He looked at me, and he said, “We have really cool customers. They’re launching rockets or flying satellites.”

Hockenberry is particularly proud of the role Chorus Call played on 9/11. “On the federal side, we were the operational voice system at the FAA command center. The FAA realized they didn’t have the phone capacity to communicate. So it was up to Chorus Call. They were doing 500-person conference calls made from our offices on Route 48.” Try that on Zoom. Oh yeah, that was 10 years before Zoom was founded!”

Gordon Scherer, Chief Financial Officer of Chorus Call Inc. and Subsidiaries, has been affiliated with Compunetix since 1972 when he was an auditor at Compunetix’s accounting firm.

“I became the person in charge of that engagement and remained in that position. I decided I wasn’t ready to retire. So, I joined Chorus Call to see what I could do to help them move forward…you knew the excellence that was kind of going on behind the scenes, it seemed like it’s a place I would love to work,” he said.

“It’s the general culture, which does flow from the top in terms of the integrity, the view of business and the view of how do you treat one another,” said Scherer. “And, you know, that’s an important kind of cultural concept, and it’s very important here and it flows here, both externally, as well as internally. So we respect one another, but that doesn’t mean we always have the same opinion. But nevertheless, we respect somebody else’s opinion who may be different than the one we happen to have.”

It’s pretty hard for me not be completely impressed whenever I see Dr. C. attending one of the Tech Council’s board meetings or taking part in one of our gala events like Tech 50. To think how a man from Italy took an opportunity to come to Pittsburgh, build three successful companies and engrain himself into every nook and cranny of Pittsburgh’s tech startup community is pretty amazing.

Hockenberry riffed off of Scherer: “Another Compunetix cultural feature is taking our time in considering major decisions in order to ensure that it’s the right decision …Slow and steady wins the race. We make sure that our decision is the correct choice, and it’s one that we’re going to stick to.”

The future of the Compunetix and its sibling companies remains bright as ever, according to Hockenberry:

“When it comes to new technologies, we offer a lot to our customers… We provide telecommunications for the federal government in what we call the mission market. There are a lot of associated markets in that federal space if you consider on ships, in airplanes, etc., and so we are definitely exploring those related markets as viable expansions for our solutions. We are having success in those directions and I expect substantial growth. The irony is we started with the Navy way back in 1968!”

Dr. C. tells a story to both employees and customers that Compunetix and its siblings are painters. When they make paintings to make a living, they sign that painting, but they also have to sell it. Hopefully the person that buys it puts it in their house and puts it on display. And to the companies, they are still their paintings. They have their names on it.

Hockenberry continued on the analogy, “So as we produce our equipment and solutions, that’s the view we take in terms of “that’s our work.”  Whether it’s a product-based solution, or whether it’s a service-based solution, it is a representation of us.”

Additionally, because of the Employees Stock Ownership Plan, employees feel a great sense of commitment to the ongoing success of the organization because they understand that their contributions impact results.

It’s pretty hard for me not be completely impressed whenever I see Dr. C. attending one of the Tech Council’s board meetings or taking part in one of our gala events like Tech 50. To think how a man from Italy took an opportunity to come to Pittsburgh, build three successful companies and engrain himself into every nook and cranny of Pittsburgh’s tech startup community is pretty amazing.

It’s not a story that you get every day. Pittsburgh is lucky to have welcomed Dr. C., and even luckier that he stayed here. I am fortunate to have gotten to know him even just a little bit during my tenure at the Tech Council. Dr. C. is a man that I will never forget.