P E T E R. I. B A R Z A C H ' 8 3

The following feature story appeared in the campus publication MOSAIC in April, 1998.

Engineering an historical business venture in Russia

When Russian President Boris Yeltsin fired his entire cabinet last month in the biggest government shakeup since the Soviet Union dissolved and insisted that his country was not on the verge of a political crisis, Peter I. Barzach '83 thought otherwise. With economic reforms languishing and the average Russian much worse off now than under socialist rule, Barzach believes the country could be divided even further. However, to the Russian people, Barzach contends, Yeltsin's move signals the possibility of improvements in their quality of life and is therefore a reason to place renewed hope in their leader.

Barzach knows the Russian people and how they think. Born in the republic of the Ukraine in the former Soviet Union, he emigrated to the U.S. as a teenager in 1975 and returned to Russia 20 years later as business manager of international programs for Hamilton Standard, the Windsor Locks, CT-based division of United Technologies Corporation (UTC). In Russia, Barzach established the first joint manufacturing venture in history with the country's Ministry of Defense, Hamilton Standard-Nauka Joint Stock Company. Showcased as a model American and Russian business partnership at the fourth Gore-Chernomyrdin Summit in 1994, the venture is emblematic of the kind of challenge that Barzach is drawn to.

"Having grown up in the Soviet Union, I was able to put myself into the shoes of the Russians a lot more easily than somebody else would have," the West Hartford, CT resident modestly says of his accomplishment. "Even though the negotiations were very challenging, both sides needed to be able to communicate. I was able to bridge that gap." Barzach believes his understanding of the Western philosophy of doing business, coupled with his understanding of the Russians desire to reassert themselves in the world arena, helped him cement the deal.

It's not surprising that Barzach can lay claim to the historical Russian first. As both a high-school and Trinity student, Barzach operated his own computer consulting company and developed software for local manufacturing companies. His technical expertise only flourished at Trinity. While pursuing his electrical engineering and computer science major, Barzach was named the College's first student systems manager of the then-fledgling computing center.

Memorable seminars
Barzach's Trinity experience carried him far beyond the principles of engineering and computer science. "To really create or implement something important, you need a lot more than just an engineering formula," he says. "Many Americans and other ex-pats that I worked with in Russia, who came from very solid technical schools, somehow missed the importance of religious and cultural implications of doing business internationally." Barzach's forays into other disciplines at Trinity often took him into the history department. Especially memorable were seminars on Russia taught by Professor of History Samuel D. Kassow. "He is one of the few guys I know who, despite not being born in Russia, really has a good sense of what is going on."

After graduating from Trinity, Barzach became a scientific programmer/analyst at another UTC company, Pratt & Whitney, and while working there earned a master's degree in computer science and an MBA from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1985 and 1988, respectively.

In search of greater challenges, Barzach joined the Textron Lycoming division of Textron in Stratford, CT in 1986 as the manager of advanced quality engineering, responsible for the company's U.S. Army engine modernization program, a multimillion-dollar effort aimed at improving equipment capability.

Looking for yet another opportunity to advance his skills, Barzach moved on to UTC's Hamilton Standard division in 1989 as a systems development manager, and in 1992 was named business manager of Hamilton Standard's international programs in the former Soviet Union. His assignment? To help UTC develop manufacturing capacity in Russia and gain a foothold in that market. After establishing the Hamilton Standard-Nauka Joint Stock Company, Barzach in 1994 was named deputy general manager of the joint venture, which produces environmental control systems for the Russian and world markets. Of Barzach's success Professor of Engineering David J. Ahlgren, who recalls his former student's "excellent work" in a microprocessor systems course, said, "I am sure that his undergraduate engineering education served him well in the global project he worked on. I'm not surprised that he took a leadership role."

A year ago, Barzach accepted yet another challenge when he became director of operations at Compu-Data, a division of Data-Mail, Inc., a Newington, CT-based data processing, printing, and direct mail company. The experience, he believes, will broaden his business skills and also help prepare him for his ultimate goal: operating his own business.

Barzach has faced challenges not only in his business life. In 1994, Barzach and his wife, Amy, learned that their infant son, Jonathan, had spinal muscular atrophy, a genetic disorder that claimed his life when he was nine months old. To commemorate their son's life, the Barzachs in 1996 organized a project to build a half-acre, wheelchair-accessible playground in West Hartford called "Jonathan's Dream," for which Time Magazine hailed the couple as "local heroes." After helping to build other playgrounds, the Barzachs were integral in the formation of a non-profit organization called "Boundless Playgrounds National Resource Center," which will offer technical expertise to other people interested in building similar playgrounds throughout the country. "The response," says Barzach with a broad smile, "has been phenomenal."

-Suzanne Zack