Tar Heel of the Week: Jun 04, 2006 The Sunday News & Observer

by Dudley Price, N&O Staff Reporter

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK - Mark Dibner just wanted to build a computer with his son. Three years later, their project is changing lives across the Triangle. Next up: The world.

What started as a father-and-son effort in the Durham biotech executive's basement has mushroomed into a full-time operation that has rehabilitated hundreds of supposedly obsolete personal computers for honor roll students in Durham who can't afford them. Dibner's nonprofit Kramden Institute is planning a statewide expansion and could be distributing refurbished units overseas in a few years.

Mark Dibner "is a strong believer you can close the digital divide," says Robert "Boomer" Brown, who became the institute's executive director this year. "I've heard him say that when we give a machine out, there will be a family getting on the Web for the first time tonight."

The Kramden Institute -- the name is a combination of Mark and son Ned's names spelled backward -- has fixed about 600 computers at "Geek-A-Thons" that attract up to 75 volunteers. This year, the institute expects to distribute 800 to 1,000 computers.

Dibner, president of BioAbility, a biotech company in RTP, has a doctorate in neurobiology and pharmacology plus an MBA. The New York native also has gobs of curiosity and is a longtime eBay shopper. Both traits factor heavily into the making of the Kramden Institute.

Building an enterprise

When he found a cheap motherboard -- a computer's main circuit board -- online one night, he snapped it up and told his son Ned they were going to build a computer. And they did, after downloading the instructions.

That was when Ned mentioned that some of his classmates were having points docked from their papers because assignments needed to be typed and they had no computers at home.

"I didn't think it was fair," says Ned, a 10th-grader at Jordan High School. "I suggested we build computers for kids in my class, and he took it and ran with it."

Dibner, 54, began talking to friends and business associates. He quickly found there was no shortage of old but serviceable computers available.

"Everyone had one in their basement or attic," says Dibner, who at 6 feet 2 inches and 230 pounds has a bearlike countenance but speaks in a soft voice. "They were thrilled to get their office back or their basement back. The idea seemed to resonate with everyone I talked to."

Soon the Dibner home was overflowing with monitors, processors and keyboards.

"We had computers throughout our dining room, throughout our basement, and our kitchen was pretty hard to get through," Ned says.

The first year, they rebuilt about 30 computers. Each took about eight hours to fix. Initially, Dibner and Ned did all the work. But as the project took off, Dibner leased warehouse space in Research Triangle Park and built a volunteer network whose members now do most of the rebuilding.

Dibner averages 50 hours a week running BioAbility, which has 10 employees, and puts in eight to 10 hours a week at the Institute, with help from Ned and his wife, Elaine, an executive at Northwestern Mutual Life in Raleigh.

"Some people want to be famous, some people want to make a lot of money, and some people want to do interesting work and make a difference in people's lives, and Mark falls into that group," says friend Joe Smith, president and chief executive of Syntherica, a Durham biotechnology company. Smith has known Dibner since 1998.

Lowe's Grove Middle School in Durham has received about 60 rebuilt computers, and principal Marsha Person says it is hard to overstate the boost the computers give students.

"I can't even explain [the reaction] when they get called to the office" to pick up their computer, Person says. "One eighth-grader couldn't even catch his breath, he was so excited."

From nonprofit to profit

Kramden Institute's growth has been aided by Dibner's expertise in starting companies. He moved to the Triangle from Delaware in 1986 to head the Institute for Biotechnology Information for the state-funded N.C. Biotechnology Center.

Taking a second mortgage on his home, Dibner in 1994 spun it off into a for-profit venture with the Biotechnology Center's blessing. Now named BioAbility, the company provides strategic information for clients such as researching how many drugs are on the market for a certain condition or helping find a company's niche in federal contracts. BioAbility also has done business plans and provided information to help nearly 100 biotechnology companies get started.

His experience has taught him that for the Kramden Institute to continue to thrive, it needs someone's full-time attention and money.

This year, he hired the Institute's first full-time director. He also plans a summer camp for children to learn how to fix computers -- a future volunteer work force, perhaps.

And now, Chinese computer maker Lenovo, which is moving its U.S. headquarters to Morrisville, is urging Kramden to expand statewide, regionally and ultimately into China and India, Dibner says.

Lenovo has contributed a one-time grant of $63,500 to the cause, but the Institute needs about $180,000 annually to continue, Dibner says. Each computer costs about $50 to rebuild. Dibner, who funded initial years of operation with his own money and donations from friends, is searching for ways to pay for the growing operation.

"We need to learn how to best raise these funds from individuals, companies and granting groups," he says.

For Ned, the project with his dad three years ago wound up being a lesson in making a difference.

"A lot of these people have had hard lives. They've worked really hard for minimum wage, and they show extreme gratitude. A lot of people cry," Ned says. "It's very emotional."