Carl Erickson

Founder

,

Carl Erickson

Founder

I started Atomic Object in the summer of 2001 with Bill Bereza, one of my former students at Grand Valley State University. We raised Atomic from the ashes of a dot-com startup where I had been VP of Engineering. When that company failed to get a second round of funding, it went under and left us with some office furniture, three interns, the remainder of a lease, and a missing month's pay.

In May of 2019 I moved to Executive Chairman, passing the CEO reins to Michael Marsiglia and Shawn Crowley. In this position, I worked on a strategy for purpose-driven growth, the evolution of our governance, ownership, and structure, and memorializing our culture—work that I believe improves our odds of reaching our 100-year goal.

In January of 2023 I retired from Atomic, fulfilling the prediction I'd made in 2008 that I'd be the first long-term Atom to retire from the company. That wasn't a very bold prediction at the time given our company average age was in the late 20s. What's pretty amazing and very satisfying to me personally is that at my retirement, 9 of the 19 people who worked at Atomic in 2008 still worked here.

The non-ESOP employee ownership plan I created in 2009 moved 65% of Atomic's shares to non-founder Atoms. My remaining 35% was redeemed by the company at my retirement. With the exception of continuing to manage Atomic's investment portfolio, I have no formal responsibilities. My retirement is complete and Atomic has transitioned fully and successfully from the founder's era

Papers and presentations
AWARDS, CONFERENCES, & GROUPS

Grand Rapids 200, Grand Rapids Business Journal | 2021

Meet the Atoms

Leadership & Operations
Development
Delivery
Design
Quality

Meet the Atoms

Michael Li
bio
A2
Ml
Michael
Sulaiman Bah
bio
A2
Sb
Sulaiman

Meet the Atoms

Michael Li
bio
A2
Ml
Michael
Sulaiman Bah
bio
A2
Sb
Sulaiman
Michael Li
A2
Ml
Michael
Sulaiman Bah
A2
Sb
Sulaiman

Meet the Atoms

Michael Li
bio
A2
Ml
Michael
Sulaiman Bah
bio
A2
Sb
Sulaiman