Frederick Richmond Andresen
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Frederick Richmond Andresen is an international businessman with over forty years of entrepreneurial experience in Asia, Europe, and recently Russia. His recently released book, "Walking on Ice, An American Businessman in Russia" is based on his sixteen years of successful experience in that rapidly changing economy. Readers have raved that Andresen gives an enjoyable understanding of the Russian without having to read a thousand pages. For his many interests, world travel, business success, and love of the arts, he is often called a "renaissance man."
[edit] Biography
Born in El Paso, Texas, he was raised in the West Texas desert at a compressor station on the pipeline that pumped gas from Texas to Southern California defense factories. His parents were European immigrants; his father a machinist, the son of a Norwegian sea captain, and his mother from the "German Texas" settlements settled from the Alsace in the 1840s. From that individualist childhood he developed a self-confidence that served him well in his business entrepreneurship in America and abroad. After education at Colorado State University, service in the U.S. Army, and then Thunderbird School of Global Management, his international experience continued across Asia, Europe and most recently Russia.
[edit] Childhood
The youngest in a family of three sisters, Fred Andresen was influenced by his father, Arthur, a Master Machinist, educated and trained in Norway. From a penniless immigrant he became the master technician who kept the big compressor engines going in all the pumping stations on the El Paso Natural Gas Company pipeline from Texas to Southern California during World War II. He invented the pressure-weld pipeline system still used today. Delka, Andresen's mother was from the German settlements near San Antonio, Texas. Her family tree reaches back to the 1650's in Alsace.
Andresen grew up as a loner on the desert, exploring with his rifle and dog. From that he became an expert rifleman, winning top national awards. In spite of his marksmanship, he concluded at a young age that the gun was meant for only one thing, to kill, and he was determined to shoot only at targets. From the desert he also learned to respect the plants and animals, scarce as they were. He was a Boy Scout and Explorer Scout winning many top awards and studied the Southwestern Indians and prehistoric sites.
During World War II, living near Fort Bliss, he witnessed the desert training of the cavalry and infantry, even accompanying the troops on maneuver. He was arrested once, at age twelve, dressed as an officer, for walking into the Fort Bliss headquarters of the German rocket scientists, including Wernher Von Braun. He followed the European campaign with a large map on his bedroom wall. He early developed an interest in Russia. His middle sister, a Russophile in college, shared with him Russian literature and music. But also he read heavily into Jules Verne, the popular Western writers, historical accounts of the American Revolution, and the War of 1812, particularly the naval battles.
Like any Texas desert boy, he was driving an old Ford by the time his was sixteen. This enabled him to attend a preferred high school in El Paso and to take long trips in the summer to Canada and all over America. He also worked as a sales clerk in a downtown department store after school.
[edit] Education and Military
At Colorado State University, Andresen majored in Forestry, minoring in Botany and Military Science. He was Cadet Lt. Colonel in the Reserve Officers Training Corps, the Deputy Regimental Commander, and graduated as Distinguished Military Graduate. He refused a Regular Army Commission, opting for a short stay and eventually a business career. After Officer Training School, Andresen was shipped to Korea where he commanded a platoon of tanks in the 21st Infantry Division on the DMZ. He also commanded the winning 24th Division Rifle team. The military developed in Andresen his interest in foreign cultures and travel. After marrying Betty Palmer of Phoenix, he enrolled in the top ranked Thunderbird School of Global Management on a Monsanto Chemical scholarship and was afterward hired in 1958 by Monsanto in Springfield, Massachusetts to manage their Middle East chemical export business.
[edit] Business
Leaving big business for the entrepreneurial world, Andresen joined the industrial consulting firm of Geoffrey Ladhams Associates and managed assignments in major textile and computer technology fields. He started his own company in Massachusetts, Scandia Trading Co., in 1962. The company brand SKYR became a leader in the ski and active sportswear field with show rooms in New York and national representation. Resourcing in Switzerland and Japan and manufacturing in the United States, Japan, Hong Kong, China and other Asian countries, Scandia was known for fashion, quality, and value. On the side he and his wife restored colonial era homes, National Historic Sites, in Massachusetts and Vermont. This love of history continued after the move to Vermont where Cevas, another skiwear company was founded. Andresen was elected president of the national trade organization, Ski Industries America, 1972-74. He is particularly adept in the multicultural international business world, where abilities to identify, analyze, develop, and manage Wiktionary:feasible opportunities are critical. He has a proven history of turning opportunities into viable business ventures on the foundation of reliable relationships leading to sustainable associations that work.
Moving to Southern California, Andresen first started a real estate company but soon answered the urge to look abroad for opportunities. With others he founded DirectNet Telecommunications, a satellite telecom company with operations centered in Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia. His initial trip in 1991 laid the groundwork and in 1992 the company erected the first civilian satellite telecom link between central Moscow and the U.S. Supported by his partners in California, DirectNet quickly earned a reputation for quality, economy, and service in the multi-national enterprise market including the American Embassy and an enviable list of Fortune 1000 companies as well as major Russian entities. Living in Russia for six years (1992-1998) Andresen was a founding member of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia. He was honored as Outstanding American Pioneer in Russia by the Russian-American Chamber of Commerce in the U.S. He expanded into Central Europe, launching DirectNet in Prague.
His capabilities cover the full range of business disciplines with strengths in corporate organization, human resources, marketing, sales, and international relations. Andresen is presently Chairman and President of Prioritel Holdings, Inc. with advanced telecom holdings in Russia active. Specific interests currently are the convergence of telecom and data, especially the explosion of the Internet as the dominant medium of information accessibility and product distribution.
[edit] Writing
From his travel and foreign residence a broad interest developed in other cultures and cultural conflict resolution, leading to writing, both historical fiction and non-fiction. "Walking on Ice: An American Businessman in Russia," is highly reviewed in Russia Profile magazine. Two novels ("The Faberge Clock" and "The Lady with an Ostrich Feather Fan") set part or wholly in Russia are now in progress and another ("Dos Gringos") based on his Norwegian immigrant father's escapades in the Mexican Revolution. Articles and essays have appeared in various business and general interest magazines and journals. In addition to writing he has received awards for photography. He is active in the arts, music, and literature.
[edit] Awards and Other Interests
Active culturally, Andresen is on the board of Chamber Orchestra Kremlin, and he founded Promusica Russia, a non-profit organization. He received the William E. Morgan Alumni Achievement Award, 2005 from Colorado State University. He is president of the Los Angeles/Saint Petersburg Sister City Committee supporting charities in that Russian city and cultural exchanges. He is one of the few American members of The World Wide Club of Petersburgers, an elite St. Petersburg cultural club.
