Tom Lewis shocked the Internet world in August when he quit as CEO of online brokerage Ameritrade just months after taking the top job
By Hall Lux, with Jenny Anderson, Rich Blake, Lucy Conger, Justin Dini, Kevin Hamlin, Jeffrey Kutler and Justin Schack
December 2000
Institutional Investor Magazine
His departure was all the more surprising because he and company founder Joe Ricketts had just completed a 5,000-mile motorcycle trip intended to commemorate his new role. Lewis, who left to take care of family matters and remains close to Ricketts, last month resurfaced as CEO of Salt Lake City-based Campus Pipeline, a company that provides Internet technology to universities. The private company, which has licensed its software to 600 schools, already has an enviable pipeline of business, says Lewis. The tech expert, who is credited with saving Ameritrade from back-office meltdown during its high-speed growth in 1999, won’t be spending all his time in Utah. He and Ricketts are planning some more bike runs. “We’re going to Baja,” says Lewis. “And then New Zealand in the spring.”
