Paul Franz '88 is still rolling these days, but it is not the rollin' he used to do with his classmates and brother Pikes while at Southwestern. These days, his rolling involves a multi-seated running stroller, matching number of children and the hike and bike trails of Austin's Town Lake.

A non-Texan, Franz was born and raised in Flagstaff, Ariz., and, until coming to Southwestern, lived at the Lowell Observatory where his father worked as an astronomer. Both of Franz's parents were immigrants--his father grew up in Austria and his mother in Russia. Even now visiting family requires a bit of travel with his parents in Flagstaff, his brother in Atlanta and his sister in New Zealand.

Talking with Franz, one quickly discovers how much he values friendship and developing strong, personal relationships with people. Such relationships make up his fondest memories of Southwestern because they have weathered the years and helped him grow personally. He says, "I have been fortunate to have made lifelong friendships with individuals whom I still see a few times a week, nearly 20 years hence. My experience as a Pike taught me more about myself than, at times, I cared to learn and helped me really understand what true friendships are based on. It's those principles that still guide me in my relationships with others. It was a truly remarkable experience for me, and I am deeply grateful to have been there when I was." Franz also met his wife, Marla Lade Franz '91, while attending Southwestern. "Marla is the little sister of one of my pledge brothers, Mike Lade. In fact, Mike instructed Marla that she could date anyone at SU with the exception of a couple of guys, of whom I was one. Notwithstanding her brother's advice, Marla and I began dating halfway through her freshman, my senior year, and enjoyed a six-and-a-half-year courtship." They wed in June 1993 and now have four children.

Today, Franz is probably best known for two things--co-founding Powered, an Austin-based software company, and blowing by fellow runners while pushing a stroller filled to capacity with three of his four children. He co-founded Powered in 1999 and served as vice president of finance and vice president of business development before being asked to take over as chief executive officer in 2003. Brought in to oversee the sale of the company, Franz and his team instead turned business around at Powered and began generating positive cash flow for the first time in the company's history. An economics major at Southwestern, he attributes his business acumen to skills he honed in and out of the classroom. "I feel that I gained a solid, foundational understanding of economics while studying at SU, and occasionally that knowledge has helped me in my business career. Success in business comes from practical experience, sound judgment, intellectual honesty and the ability to process the whole picture. The environment at SU helped cultivate my thought processes and equipped me to make practical use of my knowledge in the business world."

Franz's running achievements are attributable to Southwestern when he and a few fraternity brothers made a collective decision to start running after a Pike Founder's Day celebration. He began training on his own, but eventually added his son Zac and the running stroller to the routine. They ran their first marathon together in 1997 and did so again the following year. "By 1999, I moved up to a double stroller and took Zac and Zoey. After Kendall was born, I invested in a triple stroller. When Otto was born in 2002, Zac was forced into retirement and Otto took his place. Zoey is now officially retired after the marathon this year--more a factor of her being too big to fit under the all weather cover than her desire to continue participating." Each of Franz's children has logged more than 1,000 miles in the stroller. Unfortunately, he cannot take them out as much anymore because of an irreparable ankle injury. That doesn't mean Franz will stop spending time with them. On the contrary, he says, "I plan on spending many enjoyable years with Marla watching our children grow up and participating in their lives at any and every level each of them will allow."