Howdy, I’m Mike Wilkinson

Founder and former CEO of Paragon Innovations for over 3 decades.
Technology and Business Executive

Click here to see how Google Gemini describes me.Michael R. Wilkinson offers up my four decades of business and technology experience to others. I have had a wonderful career of almost 34 years at Paragon Innovations, which I founded in 1990. During this time, I learned a lot about business and technology, not only from our Paragon staff but from our many customers who spanned all parts of the US and some abroad.

In my post-Paragon years, I am doing the following things:

Investments which include continuing as an Angel Investor, assisting in fundraising for startups, technical mentoring, and business mentoring
- Mike is an active Board member of the Aggie Angel Network
- Mike has invested in a number of startup companies and three Venture Capital funds.
- He also actively works with certain startup companies post investment.
Servant Leadership which includes guest lecturing at Texas A&M Engineering and May’s Business College among other education institutions plus serving on various committees and Dean’s boards. These include the McFerrin Center for Entrepreneurship, the Engineering Technology Industrial Advisory Board, and the College of Education’s Dean’s Development Council.
Of course, I will continue sailing in the Caribbean and on Lavon Lake in Texas. Also, I will continue teaching sailing at our Lavon Yacht Club for adults and kids.
Vacations with my Sandy as well as vacation with my family.

The Paragon Innovations Years

Mike led Paragon Innovations’ business strategy and vision, product design and development, and customer relations. Since its inception in 1990, Mike and his team have grown Paragon into one of the nation’s leading providers of product development and engineering services. Customers include 3M, B.Braun Medical, Edwards Life Sciences, Hitachi, Medtronic, Motorola, Line6, and Siemens among others.

Like most startups, Paragon started very small. Mike wanted to create processes and documentation strategies for the work before adding staff and letting the company get out of control. Paragon initially only performed electronic and firmware services. It wasn’t until 2010 that Paragon offered Mechanical Engineering services internally. We outsourced ME work before that time. We wanted to make sure we fully understand ME work before hiring people to make the staff more complete and offer the full turn-key service that our customers requested. Paragon rode out all the up and down cycles in the market like a mechanical bull. Sometimes making payroll was tough, but we only had one layoff in the company’s history. That was Mike’s most painful day at Paragon. The night before he rolled up in a ball and cried like a baby. As always, things turned around for the good. Paragon has always maintained a strong customer and suppler following. The core values are important to the Paragon staff and Mike as an individual.

Most importantly, Mike thinks Paragon has a culture that attracts engineers who want to create new things, explore, and innovate. They like to work in small teams and prove that the seemingly impossible is, in fact, possible.

It is fascinating how well Paragon’s most senior engineers work alongside the youngest engineers to combine the wisdom and experience with new and fresh ideas.

Eventually, Mike had a calling to do more work with Texas A&M and startup companies promoting entrepreneurism. This led him to sell Paragon Innovations in August 2021 to TTI, Inc. (a Berkshire Hathaway company). Mike continued on with TTI, Inc. as General Manager and Vice President responsible for the Paragon division until his retirement in February 2024. Now, Paragon is continuing to operate as a division within the TTI, Inc. organization.

Paragon’s 1st Location & Team

Starting From the Beginning

The Early Years

Eagle ScoutMike himself earned his Eagle Scout at the age of 13. He loved the Boy Scouts and his troop. He was very active in camping and canoeing.

While in Elementary school, Mike obtained an interest in electronics, mainly because his father was in electronics at Collins Radio. That interest continued into Middle School where he was introduced in 7th grade to Ms. Horton, the Math Department Head. She taught Mike how to program in Fortran on paper. There were no computers in his school district at the time. She entered Mike into a programming contest at SMU University in April of that school year. He had to write 5 Fortran programs using punched cards in the fastest time. He won FIRST PLACE. He and the math club sold enough M&Ms that year to purchase an Apple ][ computer for the school. (I think the school chipped in some of the money).

Mike continued to be heavily involved in Boy Scouts, camping, canoeing, and soccer until he graduated High School. He canoed the border waters at Sommers Canoe Base (now called Northern Tier) and two trips to Philmont Scout Ranch plus many Canoe trips in Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas.

While in High School, Mike started his first company, “The Software House” providing software development, primarily for the Apple ][ computer. Mike’s parent purchased Mike a Rockwell AIM-65 computer in which he learned Assembly Language. Later, he acquired the BASIC and FORTH ROMs for the AIM-65 computer. Later, he built his own Apple ][ from a raw PCB he acquired and purchased all the components to assemble the computer. Throughout High School, Mike’s interest in electronics, software, and entrepreneurship grew. Mike had planned to attend Texas A&M very early and was accepted at the end of his High School Junior Year. Mike was able to pay for his education by contracting to a number of clients during High School and College. The two most notable clients were Sunrise Systems and MicroCraft Corporation.

Sunrise Systems

Sunrise Systems was a spinoff startup from Xerox Corporation. They intended to design and manufacture a “laptop” computer before there was such a thing. This computer had a 3-line monochrome LCD display, and a micro-cassette tape drive for data storage and dictation. There was a secondary device that was a IBM PC clone that could be attached when at home or the office.

There is a real need for engineers who can speak software and hardware.He could write code, use an oscilloscope, follow a schematic, etc. That is when the light went off and Mike knew that a “bilingual” engineer would be most helpful in the industry. Mike now knew, that even though he was going to TAMU for electronics, his software talents would be useful as well. Back then, everything was written in assembly language. Ask him how he deleted the entire staff’s source files for the day before the nightly backup. The real story is how he recreated those files before the next morning.

There is a real need for engineers who can speak software and hardware.

MicroCraft Corporation

Immediately after Sunrise, Mike begins working with Micro Craft Corporation. The Motorola 68000 processor was brand new, and Mike really wanted to work on a project around that CPU. Micro Craft was creating a new computer that could run most software on the market at the time. The Apple ][, the IBM PC, and CP/M machines were all making their way into businesses, schools, and homes. The problem was software. The best accounting software might be on one platform, but another platform offered a better word processor, etc. The Micro Craft Dimension 68000 was the answer. The computer could run Apple ][ software, IBM PC software, CP/M software (Z80, 8086, and 68000 versions) as well as UNIX software. At the time, UNIX only ran on mini and mainframe computers. The base technology that Michael Carpenter, Founder and President, created was amazing and Mike was eager to learn it all. Once again, Mike had the opportunity to work with very senior electronic and hardware engineers.

Texas A&M University

Mike enjoyed four years at Texas A&M in College Station, TX and graduated after Four years and summer in August 1986 with a Electrical Engineering Technology (now called ESET). (Whoop!) College was filled with classwork and flying home many weekends to work for Sunrise Systems, and later Micro Craft.

After College

With advice from his family, Mike decided to get a real W-2 job. He accepted a position in Aug 1986 to work for Spectradyne. Spectradyne designed and manufactured set-top boxes for hotels whereby someone could watch a PPV movie in a hotel. They led the industry at that time. Second, Spectradyne designed and manufactured the FIDS system equipment for all of American Airlines’ hub cities. This included all the computers, monitors, and signage throughout the airport displaying arrivals, departures, baggage information, and information facing the ground crew and pilots. Mike was instrumental in both parts of the company’s engineering development.

Precision Electronic Products (PEP)

Mike was recruited to be a founder alongside John Adel (founder and investor in Spectradyne, Electrospace, etc.) and 5 other founders. We developed a simpler easy low-cost PPV delivery system for smaller hotels (<100 rooms) and hospitals. John asked Mike to find an office to rent. Ask Mike about that experience! Mike was a principal engineer and played a key role in the development of the Set-Top-Box and the backend computer system.

Here is where Mike learned the value of documentation

Mike valued documentation but took the shortcut to skip documentation in order to shorten the development time and get to market on the startup budget. After hiring several engineers to help along the way and with no documentation, Mike began spending more time helping others understand the architecture and also traveling all over the US to installation sites because of the lack of documentation. After PEP, he swore never to be in that situation again.

CTC

Mike met Mike Willey at CTC. After five months, Mike decided it was time to start a company.

Marriage

Mike originally met Sandy Gaddis in college. They met in the Zachery computer lab. Mike asked her out over the computer, long before email existed. They went out on one date and decided to just be friends. They were friends until the end of college and then they went their separate ways.

Mike and Sandy were reunited in 1989 and were married in August 1990. Three months later they started Paragon Innovations (then called Innovative Engineering) Ask them about that story. Lesson learned: Don’t start a business three months after getting married.

Paragon Innovations

Paragon Innovations was founded on two principles learned by experience ever since Junior High School.

Engineering should follow a written process
Documentation is very important and should be created from day one.

Mike Willey came on board as a shareholder, officer, and key member of the company. He has been there since almost the beginning, so we call him a founder too! He was very instrumental in many aspects of the business.

Events along the way

Member of John Dealey’s Advisory Council for 16 years.
Member of a CEO group within Vistage International for 15 years.
Board member of the Aggie Angel Network.
Member of the TAMU McFerrin Center for Entrepreneurship (formally CNVE) since 2005.
- Judge for Raymond Ideas Challenge
- Judge for MBA Entrepreneurial Challenge
- Judge for Aggie Pitch
- Mentor for Startup Fast Pass (formally Three Day Startup)
- and many more.
Industrial Advisory Board for Texas A&M Engineering ESET Department since 2012.
Dean’s Development Council for TAMU College of Education and Human Development since 2022.
Frequent guest lecturer for multiple Universities including Texas A&M (TAMU), University of Texas at Dallas (UTD), and Southern Methodist University.
Supporter of STEM at every level from Grade School through High School.
Served on Board of Directors for Tech Titans (previously Metroplex Technology Business Council (MTBC))
Served as Chairman of the Software Roundtable of the MTBC.
Former Chairman of the American Electronics Association’s North Texas CEO Roundtable (AEA).
Actively involved with the Texas A&M Foundation.

Sailing

Mike’s life would not be complete without his love and passion for sailing. He learned to sail at summer camp in Boy Scouts but didn’t really get the passion until his first employer, Dr. Jim Miller, invited him on his 48 ft Ketch sailboat, named “PANACEA” while he was in college.

Mike fell in love with sailing and then began SCUBA diving at the Flower Gardens in the Gulf of Mexico before it was a national park. It was virgin with no markings or buoys. The only way to get there was to dead reckon or use LORAN. There was no civilian GPS.

Shortly after graduation, Mike built his first house. Less than a year later, he purchased his first sailboat, a used Catalina 22. He named it “PANDORA.” In his 2 year of racing, he entered every regatta at the Lavon Yacht Club and lost every single race… dead last! The club created an award and gave it to him that Christmas. I think this is were society created the “Participation Award”. In Mike’s defense, the boat was very old and had sails that he stuffed into a bag much the same way you stuff laundry into a bag. The sails sucked.

In January 1991, shortly after purchasing a building for Paragon and other tenants, Mike loves sailing so much that it is part of his soul forever.Mike and Sandy purchased an Olson 25. We named her, “PARAGON” for the pursuit of excellence. Mike raced this boat religiously and got very good at racing. Sandy bought him a HydroHoist lift for his 30th birthday. He eventually purchased a trailer and began taking the boat to area Lake Regattas. He won or placed in many of those regattas.

In January 2005, Mike and Sandy purchased a brand new Hunter 36 sailboat. We named her, “Hiding Out” because that was going to be the place we hung out. Mike uses the boat to play, race, and sometimes work. The boat has everything one needs to work on a business plan: cellular/WiFi gateway, printer, laptop, grill, microwave, drinks, and liquor cabinet.

Mike spends time on the boat relaxing and working as well. He tells people it is a floating RV and he only has to return to port to acquire more beef and liquor. Rain, snow, sleet, or shine, Hiding Out is a home away from home.

Mike began as a United States Coast Guard Captain in June 1998. He earned a 100 ton Masters license. This Merchant Marine license allows him to Captain any power or sail vessel under 100 tons. He has maintained his license through renewals, logbooks, and recurring medical exams since that time. the requirements are pretty rigorous. Some of the exams require a 90% proficiency to pass. the coursework covers international and US Rules of the Road, navigation, chart plotting, anchoring, set and drift, boat maintenance, fire control, etc. Eight total exams and 720 days of certified sea service are required for the inital Master’s license.

In 2021 during Covid, Mike and his friend Luis purchased another sailboat. It is a Salona 44 named, “PAROMA.” She is awesome. She is fast. We have outfitted her with carbon fiber toys and sails. Symmetrical and Asymmetrical spinnakers and all the goodies. We continue to race her in international regattas across the Caribbean placing well including multiple first and second place trophies. FYI: There are no Participation Trophies in the Caribbean.

With his 3 sailboats, Mike spends time sailing either in Lavon Lake or the Caribbean whenever possible.

Real Estate

Mike and Sandy began purchasing Commercial Real Estate in 1991. They began Residential Real Estate in 1997. They have bought and sold a number of properties. They currently still own both types of properties.

Mike Wilkinson