Christopher Galvin

Last updated
Christopher B. Galvin
Born (1950-03-21) March 21, 1950 (age 72)
Alma mater Northwestern University
Known forCEO Motorola, Inc.
Spouse(s)Cindy
Children2

Christopher B. Galvin (born March 21, 1950) is an American businessman. He served as the chairman and chief executive officer of Motorola from 1997 to 2003.

Contents

Early life

Christopher Galvin is the grandson of Paul Galvin, the founder of Motorola, and the son of Robert Galvin, who served as CEO of Motorola from 1959 to 1990. He received his BS in political science from Northwestern University and his M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. [1]

Career

From 1967 to 1973, during college, Galvin held part-time summer assignments at Motorola. From 1973 to 1983, he served full-time positions in sales, sales management, marketing management and mobile two-way radio product management, taking leave 1975–77 to attend graduate business school full-time. From 1983 to 1985, he became marketing director then general manager of the Tegal semiconductor equipment unit owned by Motorola Inc. In 1985, he became vice-president and director of Motorola's radio paging Division, where he sponsored the team that created one of the first virtually completely automated manufacturing operations in the US, called Project Bandit. Galvin was promoted to corporate vice-president and general manager of paging. In 1988, he was named chief corporate staff officer of the corporation, later senior vice president and appointed to the Policy and Operating Committees of Motorola Inc. In 1990, he was promoted to assistant chief operating officer and joined as the third member of the office of the CEO of Motorola Inc. In 1993, he was elevated to president and chief operating officer. In 1997, he became CEO. In 1999, he added the role of chairman of the board to that of CEO. [2]

Following the dot-com crash in 2000, he led a massive three-year restructuring of Motorola that included large lay-offs, closure of manufacturing facilities and reducing break-even costs. [3] Simultaneously, Galvin led the renewal of Six Sigma Quality through Digital Six Sigma and introduced Motorola's MOTO language advertising campaign in 2002. [3] The RAZR cellular phone was designed by Galvin's innovators in new product development methodologies created during the 2001–2003 timeframe. RAZR was introduced July 27, 2004. [4] The innovations behind the RAZR was so cutting edge that even Galvin's eventual successor, Ed Zander, stated “There was a small team developing the RAZR before I got there. When I saw the technology, it blew me away.” [5]

On September 19, 2003, the board of directors announced publicly it would seek another CEO. [6] Galvin stated his objection to the board's view of Galvin's turnaround efforts, and stated, "The Board and I do not share the same view of the pace, strategy and progress at this stage of the turnaround.” [7] Galvin resigned on January 4, 2004. [8]

After departing Motorola, Galvin served as chairman of the board of Navteq Inc. (2004–2008), and then of Cleversafe Inc. [9]

Related Research Articles

Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, United States. After having lost $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, the company split into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011. Motorola Solutions is generally considered to be the direct successor to Motorola, Inc., as the reorganization was structured with Motorola Mobility being spun off. Motorola Mobility was acquired by Lenovo in 2014.

Craig Barrett (chief executive) American business executive

Craig R. Barrett is an American business executive who served as the chairman of the board of Intel Corporation until May 2009. He became CEO of Intel in 1998, a position he held for seven years. After retiring from Intel, Barrett joined the faculty at Thunderbird School of Global Management in Phoenix.

A chief operating officer (COO), also called a chief operations officer, is one of the highest-ranking executive positions in an organization, composing part of the "C-suite". The COO is usually the second-in-command at the firm, especially if the highest-ranking executive is the chairperson and CEO. The COO is responsible for the daily operation of the company and its office building and routinely reports to the highest-ranking executive—usually the chief executive officer (CEO).

Edward Zander American business executive

Edward J. Zander is an American business executive. He was CEO and Chairman of the Board of Motorola from January 2004 until January 2008, remaining as chairman until May 2008. His work in the technology sector included management positions at Data General and Apollo Computer before joining Sun Microsystems in 1987, where he was later promoted to Chief Operating Officer and President.

Gregory D. Brenneman is an American businessman. He serves as the chairman of CCMP Capital, an American private equity firm.

Robert William "Bob" Galvin was an American executive. He was the son of the founder of Motorola, Paul Galvin, and served as the CEO of Motorola from 1959 to 1986.

Michael L. Eskew is an American businessman who is the former chairman and chief executive officer of UPS from 2002 to 2007. He is on the board of 3M, IBM, and Eli Lilly and Company.

Mike S. Zafirovski

Mike Svetozar Zafirovski is a Macedonian American business executive.

William Owens (admiral)

William Arthur Owens is a retired admiral of the United States Navy and who served as the third vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1994 to 1996. Since leaving the military in 1996, he served as an executive or as a member of the board of directors of various companies, including Nortel Networks Corporation.

Edward "Ed" Liddy is an American businessman who was chairman of the Allstate Corporation from 1999 to 2008.

Dale Fuller is one of Silicon Valley’s first-generation software executives, entrepreneurs and developers. He took WhoWhere? Inc. public, led Apple’s PowerBook division to profitability and served as chief executive officer and president of Borland Software Corporation. Fuller is chairman and has served as president and chief executive officer at MokaFive Inc.

Edward J. Zore is the former president and CEO of Northwestern Mutual and current chairman. He became Northwestern Mutual's 16th president on March 31, 2000 and chief executive officer on June 1, 2001. Zore joined Northwestern Mutual investment department in 1969. He served as the company's Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Investment Officer and trustee of Northwestern Mutual. He was inducted as an honoree of the SMEI Academy of Achievement in 2003, and was named among the 100 most influential people in business ethics in 2008. Zore retired from Northwestern Mutual CEO on June 30, 2010. He was succeeded by John Schlifske.

Gregory Q. Brown is an American businessman. He has been chairman and chief executive officer of Motorola Solutions since 2008.

Kenneth C. Dahlberg is an American engineer and corporate executive. Dahlberg was CEO, chairman of the board, and president of Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC). He became CEO on November 3, 2003 and chairman of the board on July 16, 2004.

Peter Cuneo is an American businessperson known for serving as CEO and Vice Chairman of Marvel Entertainment, President and CEO of Remington Products, Managing Principal of Cuneo & Company, a private investment and management company and President of Black & Decker security hardware group. Business Insider named Cuneo as one of the "Ten Greatest Turnaround CEOs". Cuneo is currently Chairman of Arrival (company).

Sanjay Kumar Jha is an Indian-American business executive. He is the former chief executive officer (CEO) of GlobalFoundries and former chairman and CEO of Motorola Mobility. Prior to that, he was the chief operating officer of Qualcomm.

Charles K. Monfort and Richard L. Monfort are the primary owners of the Colorado Rockies Major League Baseball team. Both grew up in Greeley, Colorado and are sons to Kenneth Monfort; previous owner of Monfort of Colorado, Inc. a meatpacking and distributing company that was acquired by ConAgra Foods in 1987. Dick Monfort is managing general partner, chairman and chief executive officer, while Charlie Monfort is the team's other general partner and vice chairman.

Alfred J. Amoroso is an American board member and former chairman of Yahoo!. He led the special committee set up at Yahoo! to investigate the CEO misstated college degree. He was formerly president and CEO and a director of Rovi Corporation, later renamed TiVo upon the acquisition of TiVo by Rovi Corporation. Amoroso stepped down as CEO of Rovi in 2011 and was succeeded by Thomas Carson.

Ralph Scozzafava is an American business executive who is best known for his position as Chief Executive Officer at Dean Foods, the largest fluid milk company in the United States, from January 1, 2017 to July 29, 2019. He previously served as the company's Chief Operating Officer and joined Dean Foods in 2014 as the company's Chief Commercial Officer.

Theophlius Killion is an American businessman who served as CEO of Zale Corporation from February 2010 to July 2014. He also served as Director of Jewelers of America, initially as interim CEO and a member of the board of directors of Express, Inc. His tenure led the failing Zale Corporation back from near-bankruptcy.

References

  1. "Galvin Foundation Makes $6 Million Gift to Northwestern - Northwestern Now". Northwestern.edu. 2013-02-04. Retrieved 2020-04-02.
  2. Joseph B. Cahill (1997-05-17). "DOES THE KID HAVE IT? MOTOROLA'S CHRIS GALVIN | Chicago Business & Financial News & Analysis". Chicagobusiness.com. Retrieved 2020-04-02.
  3. 1 2 Motorola Inc. Press Releases 2000-2003
  4. Motorola Inc. Press Release July 27, 2004 Introducing the Motorola RAZR V3 Source
  5. Kevin Maney (2007-11-19). "On the Razr's Edge". Bizjournals.
  6. Motorola Inc. News Releases, Q3 2003 September 19, 2003 Motorola Announces Chris Galvin’s Decision to Retire as Chairman and CEO
  7. Kevin Maney; USA TODAY; September 22, 2003 Motorola expected to seek outsider; Harsh words follow CEO's resignation
  8. "Motorola Announces Appointment of Edward J. Zander as Chairman and CEO". PRNewswire. December 16, 2003.
  9. "IBM Paid $1.3 Billion to Acquire Cleversafe in Hybrid-Cloud Push". Bloomberg. 2016-02-23. Retrieved 2020-04-02.
Business positions
Preceded by CEO of Motorola
19972003
Succeeded by