After completing a B.S. degree in Naval Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1943, Charles Coles Sr. served in the US Navy as a Superintendent of Construction at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and thereafter at shipyards in Cleveland Ohio. Following his discharge, he was employed from 1946 until 1962 by United Shoe Machinery Corporation, a company grossing $200 million in sales a year with 22,000 employees. By 1950 he had advanced to the position of Project Manager, then to an Administrative Assistant to Commercial Management [1952], then to the Director of Marketing Research [1956] and finally as Director of Business Research [1958].
In 1960, Mr. Coles helped to form Pyrotector Inc., a manufacturer and distributor of fire and related equipment with sales of approximately $1.6 million annually. Initially, he served as a director and later he served also as a Vice President. He remained with this company until 1993. In 1963 and 1964, he was the Assistant to the President of United States Smelting, Refining and Mining Company, a company with extensive oil and gas assets valued at $85 million. From 1964 until 1967, he was an assistant to the President of The Reece Corporation, an industrial machine manufacturer with sales of $17 million per year.
In the late 1960's, Mr. Coles returned to naval architecture and began working on the development of what is now the Technology. He was granted his first patent relative to the Technology in 1971 and has continued to develop and improve the Technology since that time. Also at that time, in 1967, he joined Apache Corporation, a syndicator of oil and gas limited partnerships, which at one time had assets valued at $1 billion. Initially, he managed operations in New England, but later he became an Assistant Vice President. He remained with Apache Corporation until 1993. In addition to his B.S. degree, Charles Coles Sr. has taken a number of special courses in finance and decision making at the Harvard Business School, Boston University and others major institutions.