HISTORY

The History of Whalley Computer Associates (WCA)


As a part-time programming consultant to other departments in the Agawam School System in the early 1970’s, mathematics teacher John Whalley purchased a small software-consulting firm that had some “live” clients. Working after school and during the summers out of the basement of his home in Southwick, Massachusetts, he began to build a customer base serving a small but varied lot of clients. In 1979, John took his experience of teaching students programming on the school’s then-new computer, and started Whalley Computer Associates, Inc. (WCA).

WCA’S Early Beginnings: 

  • In the spring of 1984, John moved out of his basement to a commercial site in Southwick, MA. However, less than a year later, paid growth forced another move to a much larger facility across the street in the Grist Mill Plaza.
  • John decided to fully dedicate his efforts to his rapidly growing company and left his teaching position in June of 1985
  • Paul Whalley joined the company, becoming its fourth full-time employee and first salesperson for WCA after leaving his position as a Cobol programmer at MassMutual Life Insurance.
  • WCA gained the acquisition of customers such as Northwest Utilities, United Technologies, General Electric, and Cigna, which helped fund the company’s rapid growth.
  • Tom Hanson, one of John’s students, began programming innovative custom software applications for schools and businesses to automate their procedures. The School Financial Package, along with the manufacturing and distribution package, contributed to WCA’s rapid growth during this period.

WCA’s Rapid Growth Continues: 

  • Dean LeClerc joined WCA as our first full time repair technician and quickly became one of the most knowledgeable network technicians in the region.
  • WCA moved into its fourth Southwick location at the end of 1986 due to business expansion
  • In 1987 a second location was opened to better serve our clients in Eastern Massachusetts, however that office was relocated to Milford, Massachusetts a few years later.
  • One of our Milford sales representatives, Peter Aldrich, began selling products to the EMC Corporation. They rapidly became and remain our largest customer; forming a mutually beneficial relationship in which both companies have grown together

WCA’s Most Recent Years:

  • In 2011, WCA added dedicated resources to RI, NH, ME, and Upstate, NY
  • In 2013, four account managers worked to expand WCA’s presence in Rhode Island
  • By 2017, due to rapid increase in business volume, WCA was added to the RI contract
  • The state of Rhode Island named WCA an approved vendor to their Public Sector purchasing contracts.

WCA Today:

  • WCA’s corporate office is located in our new 62,500 square foot state-of-the-art office building located at One Whalley Way in Southwick, MA.
  • WCA has 150 employed computer professionals at its two business locations, serving a customer base of over 20,000 customers
  • We are still providing hardware, software, programming, technical, networking, and training services to our customers
  • In 2019, WCA added three more salespeople as resources for coverage in ME, NH, and Upstate, NY
  • 2019 – This year WCA celebrates its fortieth-year anniversary in this industry