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

Motorola 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, Motorol ...

from 1997 to 2003.

Early life

Christopher Galvin is the grandson of Paul Galvin, the founder of

, 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 Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

and his M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

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 A two-way radio is a radio that can both transmit and receive radio waves (a transceiver), unlike a broadcast receiver which only receives content. It is an audio (sound) transceiver, a transmitter and receiver in one unit, used for bidirection ...

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 Tegal is a city in the northwest part of Central Java of Indonesia. It is situated on the north coast (or ''pesisir'') of Central Java, about from Semarang, the capital of the province. It had a population of 239,599 at the 2010 Census and 276 ...

semiconductor equipment unit owned by Motorola Inc. In 1985, he became vice-president and director of Motorola's

radio paging A pager (also known as a beeper or bleeper) is a wireless telecommunications device that receives and displays alphanumeric or voice messages. One-way pagers can only receive messages, while response pagers and two-way pagers can also acknow ...

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. 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.Motorola Inc. Press Releases 2000-2003 Simultaneously, Galvin led the renewal of Six Sigma Quality through Digital Six Sigma and introduced Motorola's MOTO language advertising campaign in 2002. The

RAZR The Motorola Razr (styled RAZR, pronounced like "razor"; codenamed Siliqua) is a series of mobile phones by Motorola, part of the 4LTR line. The V3 was the first phone shown in the series and was introduced in December 2003 and released in th ...

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. The innovations behind the RAZR was so cutting edge that even Galvin's eventual successor,

Ed Zander 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 D ...

, stated “There was a small team developing the RAZR before I got there. When I saw the technology, it blew me away.” On September 19, 2003, the board of directors announced publicly it would seek another CEO. 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.” Galvin resigned on January 4, 2004. After departing Motorola, Galvin served as chairman of the board of Navteq Inc. (2004–2008), and then of Cleversafe Inc.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Galvin, Christopher 1950 births Living people Kellogg School of Management alumni American chief executives American Enterprise Institute