I spent almost seven years at EDS. In India, it later became Mphasis, an EDS company, but I still say it with pride: I’m an ex-EDSer.
Long after I left, one story from the company’s history stayed with me.
In 1978, two EDS employees, Paul and Bill, were arrested in Iran during the revolution. The bail was set at about $12.75 million, which looked less like justice and more like a ransom. The US government said there was little it could do.
Ross Perot, the founder, could have stopped there. He could have said, “We tried everything,” and nobody would have blamed him.
Instead, he called a retired army colonel named Bull Simons. Together they put together a team, mostly EDS people and not soldiers, and trained them to bring their colleagues home. In the end, a mob broke open the prison and freed the two men before the plan was needed. But the team was there, and they got everyone across the border to safety. Perot was waiting for them.
