Starting Excel Won't Hold Focus

I've got  a user who launches Excel, either from a valid excel file or from the exe, and the window doesn't hold focus.  Sometimes he can hit the left or right arrow keys, and a password box will come up for past files he's worked with, but sometimes he just has to click on the title bar to get focus on excel.  He's a keyboard users and gets frustrated that focus wont stay on app when lauched.

Any ideas?