Bob Galvin was the son of Motorola founder Paul Galvin, and over his career was President, CEO and Chairman of Motorola Inc. Born in Marshfield, Wisconsin, Bob began his career at Motorola in 1940. By 1956 Bob was president of the company and two years later after his father’s passing, was named CEO.

During his tenure at Motorola, Bob transformed the company into a global technology leader.  He made crucial investments in cellular R&D and advocated tirelessly for competitive telecom regulation across the globe. Motorola installed the first prototype cell phone demonstration system in Washington DC in 1971; unveiled the first portable cell phone prototype, the DynaTAC, in 1973; participated in the first commercial cell phone call in Chicago in 1983; and in 1989, introduced MicroTAC, the industry’s first compact cell phone. Over the years Motorola saw impressive success with sales growing from $216.6 million in 1958 to $10.8 billion in sales in 1990 when Bob stepped down as Chairman of the Board.

In 1986 Motorola implemented the Six Sigma Quality System™ under the guidance of Bob, Dr. Mikel Harry and Motorola engineer Bill Smith. The Six Sigma’s goal was business and operational excellence.  It required 99.99967% error free processes and products, or 3.4 parts per million defects or less. This process resulted in Motorola receiving the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award in 1988. Later in 2005, Bob created the Galvin Electricity Initiative, a nonprofit organization dedicated to transforming the electrical grid to meet Six Sigma standards of quality.

Bob graduated from Notre Dame University in 1944. He was a longtime supporter of the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), and served as a trustee, chairman and regent. IIT presented Bob with an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree. In 1996, he received the university’s Henry Heald Award. IIT dedicated the Paul V. Galvin Library in 1985 recognizing the Galvin family’s commitment to IIT.  Bob received many other honors including the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement, the Bower Award in Business Leadership, the IEEE Founder’s Medal, and the Vannevar Bush Award.  He was inducted into the Junior Achievement’s U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 1991, and was inducted into the Wireless Hall of Fame in 2000. Bob passed away in October 11, 2011 in Chicago, Illinois at the age of 89.