Data Resources Vice Presidents Quit; Eckstein Says His Business Is Unhurt

Four vice presidents of Data Resources Inc. (DRI) quit their jobs this week and forced Otto Eckstein, Warburg Professor of Economics and president of the consulting firm, to return early from a trip to Japan and set the firm in order.

"It's obvious that they're a group of ambitious young men who want to go into business for themselves," Eckstein said yesterday.

No Market Adjustments

He said the rash of resignations would not affect DRI's business of providing economic forecasting services to business and government.

"It means you have to promote some people," he added.

None of the officials--Stephen J. Browne, vice president; Alan M. Cody, vice president and head of the Eastern region; William F. Kassner, vice president for financial marketing; and Robert W. West, vice president for marketing--were available for comment yesterday.

The resignations sparked speculation in the business world that the executives would join competing economic advising firms. But Eckstein and other DRI officials point to the company's 600 employees and 23 vice presidents and say their business will not suffer.

Eckstein said none of the departing officers are irreplaceable. "The people who left had very little to do with the real business of DRI, which is econometrics--they were all in sales."

Data Resources maintains a complex, computerized model of the American economy. Major corporations pay an average of $51,000 yearly to gain access to DRI's computer and its economic data.

Eckstein teaches Economics 10, "Principles of Economics," and served on the Council of Economic Advisers under President Lyndon B. Johnson.

Another DRI official, Ferris Taylor, regional manager of the West Coast office, joined the vice presidents' exodus.

Two DRI economists--Bruce Scheer, an expert on agriculture, and Jay Siegel, an income and age pattern analyst--also resigned last week.

Eckstein said the timing of the vice presidents' resignations while he was visiting Japan with several other Harvard professors was odd. "It was all done very strangely," he said.

Last year Data Resources had a net income of $3.1 million, up 23 per cent from the year before.