Francisco J. Collazo, Chairman and CEO of COLSA Corporation, dropped out of high school to join the Army during WWII. He served 30 years and retired as a Chief Warrant Officer (CW 4) in 1977.

During his time in the Army, Colazzo earned the Meritorious Service Medal and in 1970 he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal and First Oak Leaf Cluster for distinguished service in Vietnam. Colazzo gained valuable experience with the Army’s Air Defense programs and used that knowledge to start COLSA Corporation, a technology services company, with his wife in their garage in 1980.

The two-employee company grew rapidly and in 1988 COLSA was named the National Small Business Prime Contractor of the Year by the Small Business Administration. Presently, COLSA employs more than 900 and posted revenues in excess of 140 million for 2007.

Colazzo holds a master of Computer Systems Engineering from the Southeastern Institute of Technology and a bachelor's degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from the University of Texas. His life motto is rather simple; "Character is what you do when no one is watching."

Stat Box

Company Name:COLSA Corporation

Location:Huntsville, Ala.

Year Founded: 1980

2007 Revenues:$143 Million

# of Employees: 920

Website: www.colsa.com

Age: 77

Service Branch: United States Army, 1946-77.

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