Ed. Note: Well known for his prominent role as Trapper John in the 1970s TV series “M*A*S*H,” Wayne Rogers also distinguished himself in the business world as a savvy entrepreneur and corporate director. He appeared in the pages of Directors & Boards twice: In 2007 in a profile written by Kelly McCarthy, and in 2011 with an excerpt from his book, Make Your Own Rules: A Renegade Guide to Unconventional Success [AMACOM Books]. Following are passages from both articles, starting with our 2007 interview. Rogers died on Dec. 31, 2015, at the age of 82.
Perhaps best known as Trapper John to Alan Alda's Hawkeye Pierce on the hit television series “M*A*S*H,” it seems Wayne Rogers hasn't changed much since his days as the affable Army surgeon stationed at the fictional 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital. Sure, the '70s big hair is gone. What remains is the recognizable slow southern drawl, rugged good looks, and easy banter.
Rogers, in addition to his acclaimed theater, television, and film roles, is a successful entrepreneur, businessman, and corporate director. He is chairman of Wayne M. Rogers & Co., an investment management firm. Among numerous real estate and business ventures, he serves as chairman of Kleinfeld, the wedding dress emporium in New York, and chairman of Stop-N-Save LLC, which owns and operates convenience stores.
You could say the “M*A*S*H” alum is something of a renaissance man; his interests and talents are that varied. He recently returned from a conference of academics discussing the biology of virtue, much of which focused on neuroeconomics and experiments in trust. Rogers likes what he learned –that out of trust comes virtue, and that man is genetically inclined to trust.
It's that very sentiment that most engages him about board service. “That interaction of being trusted gives me a sense of purpose, a sense of worth,” he says.
There was a time that confidence was tested. A few years ago Directors & Boards spoke with Rogers about his decision to remove himself from all but one of his board appointments.
“The reason is the liability,” said Rogers at the time. “Directors are increasingly held responsible for the decisions of management. If you don't have the time to actively serve and devote that kind of time to actually what's going on in the company you can be held liable. Every now and then something happens in the company, and management isn't forthright and doesn't tell you. Shareholder suits are sufficiently scary to me.”
In 2006 he put aside his fears and skepticism to join the board of Vishay Intertechnology Inc., a global manufacturer of semiconductors and components headquartered in Malvern, Pa. Why now? In meeting Dr. Felix Zandman, Vishay's founder and chairman, Rogers found someone who he judged to be morally and ethically sound. He did his due diligence by researching the company, liking what he saw in its management and board. He was appreciative of the way the business was being run. What's more, executives were not overpaid; they were measured, and rewarded, for performance. Bottom line, there was a foundation of trustworthiness.
That's not always the case these days, as seen in some of the abuses in executive pay that came to light in 2006. It's an issue Rogers has strong opinions on.
“If you said to a CEO, ‘We are going to pay you this egregiously large salary if you're successful, but we're going to penalize you if you're not,' that would be fine,” he says. “But all of this backdating of options so they are guaranteed to make money — it's outrageous.”
As he sees it, the question comes down to whether the directors of a company are independent, true representatives of the shareholders, or handpicked to further the CEO's interests. Rogers believes the majority of businesses probably don't have abusive practices. He compares those companies that do to today's workings in the movie business, where studios are run to make money not for the shareholders but for themselves, which Rogers says is a far cry from the golden era.
“In the old days in Hollywood when Jack Warner ran Warner Brothers and Harry Cohn ran Columbia Pictures and those moguls owned their own companies, it was different,” he says. “They cared about building the company because they were the company.” — Kelly McCarthy
Pictured: Wayne Rogers with his wife Amy Hirsch Rogers in 2005 when his star was added to the Hollywood Walk of Fame (top) and as Trapper John in “M*A*S*H” with Alan Alda (bottom).