Outlasting the Rest

GCM among area’s most senior computer companies

Gary McLendon’s company may be the granddaddy of all computer companies in Northwest Arkansas.

Founded in 1983 by McLendon and a partner, GCM Computers’ roots are almost prehistoric in the fast-changing world of technology. McLendon says he once heard that in Northwest Arkansas there had been 200 computer companies, some of which had only a fleeting existence.

But GCM’s services extend beyond those of the average company

“I tell people I’ll do anything to pay the bills,” the soft-spoken McLendon says.

That’s only a slight exaggeration.

Fayetteville’s GCM sells and services PCs — McLendon’s favorite part of the business — but it’s the other things his company has done that capture the imagination. There’s the Skyprinter, for example, that allows pilots to print weather information while they’re in the air.

Now, GCM’s Skyprinter is used by Dassault Falcon Jet Corp. in Little Rock and other customers.

Also, the company developed software used by Benton and Washington counties in issuing marriage licenses.

Unfortunately, however, the software probably can’t be mass-marketed across the state because county clerk offices are so different.

Early career

An Air Force veteran who earned an electrical engineering degree at the University of Arkansas, McLendon left his job at McClinton-Anchor in the early 1980s to found GCM.

“I made my first PC in 1975,” McLendon recalls. It could add and subtract, sort of a “glorified calculator,” he adds.

It hasn’t been smooth sailing throughout GCM’s history, however.

McLendon recalls the days when he was working alone. Potential customers would sometimes ask, “What happens if you get hit by a truck?” They don’t ask that anymore, so McLendon believes customers know that, even f he should get hit by a truck, the business goes on.

But the business did take a serious hit last year. GCM was one of numerous companies around the globe hit by a credit card scam. Posing as an international customer, the con artist placed large orders for high-priced chips.

Eventually, McLendon heard from Simmons First National Bank, the institution that handled his credit card business, that there was a problem–but only after GCM had shipped some $1 million worth of computer parts.

McLendon says John Lewis, the Bank of Fayetteville and other community supporters helped him save his business. But he’s paid a price.

“My goal was to get to 55 and [see if I wanted] to retire. Now, I’ll be 55 and I’ve lost all my equity.”

GCM is a relatively small business. It grosses about $2 million a year, and McLendon’s comfortable with it at that size. He’s got no aspirations for huge growth and building an empire.

And he’s looking ahead again.

“I’m an optimist.”