Charles J. Lawson was named as the first general manager
of IBM's new manufacturing and development facility
in Rochester,
Minn., He served in that post and guided the site
through its formative years until February 1959.
The following is the text of a biographical article
on Lawson's promotion to IBM director of standards,
published in the March 25, 1952 edition of the IBM employee
publication Business Machines.
Charles J. Lawson, formerly Assistant General Sales
Manager who for the past year has been associated with
J. W. Birkenstock,
Executive Assistant, engaged on various projects in
connection with the company's defense work, has been
promoted to the newly created position of IBM Director
of Standards. It will be his responsibility to assist
in the establishment of a comprehensive standardization
program for Engineering and Manufacturing. Working from
the office of IBM Director of Engineering, he will be
responsible for the coordination of the activities of
the several standardization groups at IBM factories
and laboratories.
Mr. Lawson, a veteran IBMer, has held membership in
six IBM Hundred Percent Clubs [for marketing employees
who attain all of their annual sales quota] and also
has qualified in three special sales events.
An alumnus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
he joined IBM in May 1922 as a Time Recording sales
representative in Detroit, Mich. Two years later he
was promoted to Time Recording Manager in St. Louis
and in 1926 was made IBM Manager in that city. In October
1930, he was promoted to IBM Manager in Chicago. Later
he saw service as a divisional manager in Buffalo, N.Y.,
and Boston, Mass.
In May 1942, while in the latter city, he was commissioned
a major in the U.S. Army Air Force and given leave of
absence by IBM. Reporting for duty in Washington, D.C.,
he was assigned to Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio, where
he was promoted to lieutenant colonel in August 1943.
In March 1945, he was advanced to colonel, the rank
he held at the time of his honorable discharge.
During his service in World War II, Col. Lawson served
successively as Chief, Winterization Office, Materiel
Command; Chief, Components Branch, Materiel Command;
Deputy Chief, Readjustment Division, and Chief, Readjustment
Section, Air Technical Service Command. He is also a
veteran of World War I.
With his sons, C. J. Lawson, Jr., who is Manager of
the Industrial Engineering Department at Plant 2, Poughkeepsie,
N.Y., and J. T. Lawson, a member of the [IBM] Washington
Federal Office, he is a member of the IBM Two-Generations
Club.
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