Coming in on the Ground Floor: Alan Kaltman ’64 Among Earliest Students
Among the earliest students of Brevard Engineering College (BEC), the precursor of Florida Tech, Alvin Kaltman earned his master’s degree in 1964 and also served as an undergraduate teacher.
Prior to his enrollment at BEC, he joined RCA as a junior mathematician—even though his undergraduate degree was in social sciences, which he earned at the University of the Philippines while serving in Air Force intelligence. He soon learned senior scientists working at Cape Canaveral were setting up an engineering college offering graduate courses in the evening, and he enrolled in the applied mathematics master’s degree program in the fall of 1960. At the invitation of Ray Work, acting dean of BEC, Kaltman also taught a general college chemistry course at what was to become Florida Tech. He then went on to earn his doctorate in political science from George Washington University in 1970.
Kaltman’s diverse professional experience included systems design, programming and analysis for government agencies and private organizations. His work not only developed the search algorithm for the prototype of what became GPS, he also designed the first game analysis programs used by several NFL teams. Perhaps his wanderlust began when working on the search algorithm for GPS as Kaltman has traveled extensively. In this photo, he is exploring Cape Washington, Antarctica.
In 1998, with more than 30 years of practical management experience, Kaltman compiled foundational leadership lessons that are still relevant today in an easy-to-read book, Cigars, Whiskey & Winning: Leadership Lessons from General Ulysses S. Grant.
His career included stints as a senior executive vice president of MBNA, group vice president of GEICO Corporation, as well as president and CEO roles with two companies. Today, Kaltman volunteers to teach a course in leadership at George Washington University.
Excerpt from our upcoming 60th Anniversary publication,
60 for 60: Celebrating Sixty Years of Alumni at Florida Institute of Technology
