BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : APRIL 3, 2000 ISSUE
BUSINESS WEEK E.BIZ -- PERSONALITIES George deBenneville Bell Jr. Born: Dec. 20, 1956 Education: B. A. in English from Harvard, 1980 Career Highlights: Wrote and produced for ABC from 1980 to 1985. From 1985 to 1991, he produced and wrote documentaries on conservation and wildlife, collecting four Emmy Awards. Bell was a senior vice-president at Times Mirror Magazines from 1991 to 1995. He was hired as CEO of Excite in 1996 and succeeded Tom Jermoluk as CEO of the combined Excite@Home in January. How shooting films prepared him for running an Internet company: ''You get someplace and you find out that you can't do the show you were going to do. You have to come back with something.'' First big decision at Excite: He persuaded top execs to change the company's name from Architext to the more memorable Excite. Most unusual management technique: In the past, during his weekly staff meetings, he kept three tennis balls behind the podium and zipped them at people who were chatting among themselves. Sports: He played on the Harvard squash team and was formerly a national doubles champion at a rare sport called ''court tennis,'' which was popular with royalty in 14th century France. It's played in an enclosed court where balls can come off the walls. There are no courts west of Chicago, so he doesn't play much anymore. Blue blood to new blood: His great-grandfather was Pennsylvania's attorney general, his grandfather was chief justice of the state Supreme Court, and his father, George Sr., a close friend of former president George Bush, was co-chairman of investment bank Janney Montgomery Scott. How he avoided a career in banking: His older sister became an investment banker. ''In many ways she was the first-born son. She cleared the way so I could go my own way.'' Family: His wife, Carrie, and three sons--ages 7, 5, and 2--just moved across the country to suburban Boston to be near her parents. Bell travels to Boston almost every weekend. On his nightstand: He regularly reads three books: Homer's Odyssey and Robert Lowell's Day by Day and For Lizzie and Harriet. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP					RELATED ITEMS George Bell: The Year of Living Painfully RESUME: George deBenneville Bell Jr. TABLE: Bell's Broadband Battle Plan TABLE: Excite@home vs. the Competition INTERACT E-Mail to Business Week Online

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