Charles J. Lawson was named as the first general manager of IBM's new manufacturing and development facility in Rochester, Minn., He served in that post and guided the site through its formative years until February 1959.
The following is the text of a biographical article on Lawson's promotion to IBM director of standards, published in the March 25, 1952 edition of the IBM employee publication Business Machines.
Charles J. Lawson, formerly Assistant General Sales Manager who for the past year has been associated with J. W. Birkenstock, Executive Assistant, engaged on various projects in connection with the company's defense work, has been promoted to the newly created position of IBM Director of Standards. It will be his responsibility to assist in the establishment of a comprehensive standardization program for Engineering and Manufacturing. Working from the office of IBM Director of Engineering, he will be responsible for the coordination of the activities of the several standardization groups at IBM factories and laboratories.
Mr. Lawson, a veteran IBMer, has held membership in six IBM Hundred Percent Clubs [for marketing employees who attain all of their annual sales quota] and also has qualified in three special sales events.
An alumnus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he joined IBM in May 1922 as a Time Recording sales representative in Detroit, Mich. Two years later he was promoted to Time Recording Manager in St. Louis and in 1926 was made IBM Manager in that city. In October 1930, he was promoted to IBM Manager in Chicago. Later he saw service as a divisional manager in Buffalo, N.Y., and Boston, Mass.
In May 1942, while in the latter city, he was commissioned a major in the U.S. Army Air Force and given leave of absence by IBM. Reporting for duty in Washington, D.C., he was assigned to Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio, where he was promoted to lieutenant colonel in August 1943. In March 1945, he was advanced to colonel, the rank he held at the time of his honorable discharge.
During his service in World War II, Col. Lawson served successively as Chief, Winterization Office, Materiel Command; Chief, Components Branch, Materiel Command; Deputy Chief, Readjustment Division, and Chief, Readjustment Section, Air Technical Service Command. He is also a veteran of World War I.
With his sons, C. J. Lawson, Jr., who is Manager of the Industrial Engineering Department at Plant 2, Poughkeepsie, N.Y., and J. T. Lawson, a member of the [IBM] Washington Federal Office, he is a member of the IBM Two-Generations Club.