About Nord

Historian — Lawyer — Entrepreneur

Nord was born and raised on an Iowa farm in the B.C. (before computers) era. His life was not about keyboards, screens and AI, but rather horses, cattle and pigs (not to mention chickens, ducks and the stupidest turkeys in the history of the world). He has learned, to his surprise, that computers can make even bigger messes than farmyard animals.

He escaped the farm at the age of 18 when he matriculated at Grinnell College (A.B., 1967) and got a couple of hundred miles further away in law school at Washington University in St. Louis (J.D., 1970). Nord was then called to active duty in the USAF and served as a computer-free JAG.

As the first in-house lawyer at Green Mountain Power Company, Nord faced up to the real cyber world where, as the only member of management under 50 years of age (he certainly had no other qualifications), he was assigned to manage all 32K of the computer department in that pre-IT era. It seemed to him easier to practice law, and he did so starting in 1979 with the formation of the firm of Sheehey and Brue.

Nord used his own PDA (Paper Digital Assistant) to start and grow Bruegger's Bagels to a chain of some 300 stores. This was followed by a sale or two of the company and the release of his entrepreneurial energy into Franklin Foods and PKC Corporation, each of which he chaired.

Nord has served as Chair of Green Mountain Power, Chair of Vermont Public Radio and Chair of the Grinnell College Board of Trustees (now a Life Trustee), and Trustee and now Honorary Trustee of American Ancestors. He was the Founding Father of The Goose Club of the Alpha Inn, a scion society of the Baker Street Irregulars. Each of the preceding, except of course The Goose Club, is a member in good standing of the computer society of the modern world.

Writing a biography of a long-dead ancestor is not a money-making venture, even on the life of someone as interesting as Nils Trulsen. The Brue+Skok winery he shares with his son offers delicious wines and is a guaranteed money loser. It appears his financial future is in the hands of the tech companies and computers he resisted so long.

Selected Roles

• Founding Partner — Sheehey and Brue
• Co-founder — Bruegger's Bagels
• Chair — Green Mountain Power
• Chair — Vermont Public Radio
• Chair — Franklin Foods and PKC Corporation
• Life Trustee — Grinnell College