Lumry

"But no one ever minimized Lumry's importance to the company or doubted his genius at raising money. For the increasingly high-flying McCaw company, Lumry was the airborne tanker supplied with finan- cial fuel. He took the company's meager financial results and blended them with talk of McCaw's vision and the future of cable into a tale that won the support of bankers and other investors. He knew what to tell the bankers and what not to tell them, and how to give them bad news that sounded good. If losses ran bigger than the company projected, Lumry gave them a happy spin. That red ink, he would say with feigned pride, was a "tax shelter ahead of schedule." Lumry led the bankers to the only logical conclusion: that McCaw could walk on water. In the end, they would be eager to lend $85 million on $4 million a year of cash flow."

"This kind of fancy financial footwork typically happened only near the end of a quarter, when Hooper and Lumry were struggling to ensure that cash flow would meet the targets set in loan agreements. (Hooper says the practice only lasted a year.) The company took great pride in never violating a loan covenant. McCaw aimed to set the highest ethi- cal standards, but there were times when it was necessary to push the envelope—so to speak."