Rod Canion

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Rod Canion
Rod Canion - SiliconCowboys-MFF16.jpg
Rod Canion at the 2016 Montclair Film Festival.
Born (1945-01-19) January 19, 1945 (age 76)
Houston, Texas
Alma materUniversity of Houston
OccupationCo-founder of Compaq Computer Corporation

Joseph Rodney "Rod" Canion (born January 19, 1945) is an American computer scientist and businessman who co-founded Compaq Computer Corporation in 1982 and served as its first President and CEO.[1][2]

Biography[]

A native of Houston, Canion graduated from the University of Houston in 1966 and 1968 with bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical engineering with an emphasis on computer science.[3] Before co-founding Compaq in 1982, Canion, Jim Harris and Bill Murto had been senior managers at Texas Instruments. The three co-founders received backing from venture capitalist Benjamin M. Rosen, who became chairman of the board of Compaq.[1]

During Canion's tenure as Compaq's CEO, the company set records for the highest first-year sales in the history of American business and reached the Fortune 500 and $1 billion in revenue faster than any other company.[3][4] Canion was shy, and took lessons to polish his speaking style at the request of Ben Rosen, Compaq's chairman.[5]

In 1991, Canion was dismissed by Compaq's chairman, Benjamin M. Rosen.[6][7]

In 1992, Canion founded Insource Technology Group with Jim Harris and Ronald L. Fischer and served as its chairman until September 2006.[8] In 1999, he led the initial investment round for Questia Media, Inc., which provided an online research library. Canion became chairman of the board and later helped the company raise $150 million. He is a member of the Board of Directors of AMVESCAP, BlueArc, and Young Life, and HealthLink, is Director Emeritus of the Houston Technology Center, and is a member of the Board of Advisors for Sternhill Partners.[9][10][11]

In 2013, Canion published a memoir about his career in Compaq, how the IBM PC compatible industry began with the Compaq Portable and eventually outgrew IBM, and how Canion created the Extended Industry Standard Architecture bus along with "the gang of nine" in 1988.[12] In 2016, the documentary film "Silicon Cowboys" was also based on the story of Compaq.[13]

References[]

  1. ^ a b (Joseph) Rod Canion - Compaq, Ibm, Corp, and Million
  2. ^ O'Reilly, Brian. (1985-02-18) COMPAQ'S GRIP ON IBM'S SLIPPERY TAIL Up against No. 1, the three-year-old upstart had 1984 sales of about $325 million. So far President Rod Canion hasn't made a serious mistake, but nobody's perfect. - February 18, 1985. Money.cnn.com. Retrieved on 2013-07-17.
  3. ^ a b Board of Directors | | About ChaChaAbout ChaCha
  4. ^ "Consensus, Continuity, and Common Sense: An Interview with Compaq's Rod Canion". hbr.org.
  5. ^ "THE YEAR'S 25 MOST FASCINATING BUSINESS PEOPLE Let a chicken farmer, a bus company executive, a defrocked S&L boss, the chairman of Sony, and the President of Mexico loose on the world for 365 days. This is what happens. - January 1, 1990". money.cnn.com. Retrieved 2018-06-07.
  6. ^ Reinventing Compaq: Tasks for Next Chief - New York Times
  7. ^ Ben Rosen: The Lion in Winter. Businessweek.com (1999-07-26). Retrieved on 2013-07-17.
  8. ^ "Invesco | Board of Directors". www.invesco.com. Retrieved 2018-06-07.
  9. ^ [1] Archived April 3, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  10. ^ HTC - Executive Board of Directors - Houston Technology Center
  11. ^ Healthlink Incorporated Appoints Joseph E. Boyd to Board of Directors. - Free Online Library
  12. ^ Canion, Rod (2013-02-25). Open - How Compaq Ended IBM's PC Domination and Helped Invent Modern Computing. Benbella Books, Inc. ISBN 978-1-937856-99-1.
  13. ^ "'Silicon Cowboys': How Compaq cowpokes brought down IBM". CNET. Retrieved 2017-07-10.

External links[]

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