Lionel Richie said “hello” back in 1984, the year the first Apple Macintosh went on sale and we heard the Terminator say, “I’ll be back.” If you had a dose of a freaky ghost, you called Ghostbusters, but if you needed a custom database application, you called PC Innovators, the business launched that year by DelCor’s CEO and founder, Loretta Monterastelli DeLuca.
As her business grew, Loretta helped clients with system design, implementation, and network support. In 1987, perhaps while sitting at IBM’s new PS/2 computer with a 3-1/2” floppy disk drive, Loretta changed the company’s name to Business Information Technologies to better reflect its range of expertise.
In 1988, we relived all the palpitating moments of Dirty Dancing and RoboCop on our VCRs, and Pixar won its first of many Oscars. We innocently watched Rick Astley croon “never gonna give you up,” not knowing the rickrolls awaiting us. 1988 was also the year Dave Coriale, DelCor’s President, joined Loretta’s company and soon became a partner.
During the late ’80s, Loretta and Dave worked for the first time with associations and nonprofits. Like any great lyric, they got hooked and decided to focus solely on that community. In addition to network systems and support, they started offering technology and management consulting on association management systems selection, technology strategic planning, web strategies, and CIO outsourcing.
In 1993, the year Prince changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol and the first web browser Mosaic was released, we welcomed Brian Sheehan, DelCor’s third partner and Vice President of our Network Systems & Support team, to the company. Contrary to popular belief, Brian is not an ’80s hair band fan. He’s more of a blues and jazz guy, a smooth operator.
Our company name changed in 1999 to DelCor Technology Solutions, Inc. We did not celebrate by dancing along with Britney Spears, the newest pop star on the scene; instead we danced with Mary Jane. (Yes, fans, that is a Tom Petty reference.)
After easily surviving Y2K, our business grew in the new century. In 2003, we saw the launch of MySpace and LinkedIn (fascinating), and Madonna kissing Britney and Christina during the MTV awards (not so fascinating). Meanwhile, the DelCor team was focused on organizing our first annual food drive. In the coming years our staff would become more and more involved in both the association and greater DC communities.
As technology continued to change the world, we broadened our range of services to meet our clients’ needs. In 2005, we established the Network Operations Center and the next year we launched our IT Maturity Model, the backbone of DelCorian philosophy. We joined the blogosphere in 2007, opened our Data Center the next year, and added social media consulting to our areas of expertise in 2010.
Today, all three partners continue to be active consultants, and DelCor remains focused on the association and nonprofit community. We still get excited about new technology and new music. Except Dave, he’ll be dancing with Mary Jane for all eternity.