Victor M. Tyler

1989: Chief executive of Concord Computing Corp., which processed financial transactions

Now: Building cradles for his eight grandchildren and boats for his Chatham summer place and collecting antique farm equipment for his gentleman's farm in Concord. "I don't know how I ever found time to work," jokes Tyler, an MIT-trained engineer and tinkerer.

As hot a year as the company had in 1988, Tyler is quick to praise his successor, Dan Palmer, for turbocharging its growth during the 1990s into a company that last year was taken private for $8 billion.