Paul V. Galvin
A bold futurist, creative thinker, and generous leader, Paul V. Galvin is the founder of Motorola and the namesake of Illinois Tech’s student library. Like many founders of startups, Paul believed in the power of diverse teams, learning quickly from one’s failures, and the value of unceasing innovation—something he termed “staying in productive motion.” Paul launched Motorola (originally named Galvin Manufacturing Corporation) in Chicago in 1928 using every last dime in his pocket. He and his only son, Robert W. (Bob) Galvin, attracted the team—many of whom were Illinois Tech alumni—to grow Motorola into a global communications powerhouse, but he always remembered to leave a pathway for those who came behind him by supporting causes he cared about with extensive philanthropic funding. After Paul Galvin’s death in 1959, his widow, Virginia Galvin, worked with Paul’s son, Bob, to follow in Paul’s philanthropic footsteps, with Virginia making the lead gift to fund the Paul V. Galvin Library.
“Do not fear mistakes. Wisdom is often born of such mistakes. You will know failure. Determine now to acquire the confidence required to overcome it. Reach out!” —Paul V. Galvin
Virginia Galvin Piper
Virginia Galvin, later Virginia Galvin Piper, found a lifelong love for the role of a charitable donor through her marriage to Motorola founder Paul Galvin. The daughter and granddaughter of two independent women each ahead of their time, Virginia helped to define what we think of as modern philanthropy—donor-driven and fully engaged. Most notably, the Paul V. Galvin Library on Illinois Tech’s Mies Campus was funded by Virginia and named for her beloved first husband. Virginia was even one of the first to create scholarships specifically for women in engineering, many of them at Illinois Tech. In addition to funding unusual and adventurous research avenues for Illinois Tech faculty, Virginia further supported the law school in a variety of ways, most particularly in creating the Kenneth M. Piper Memorial Lecture in Labor Law at Chicago-Kent College of Law in honor of her second husband, Ken Piper, who ably served as Motorola’s vice president of human relations during Paul and Bob Galvins’ tenure.
In order to maximize the impact of her late husband Paul’s fortune, Virginia learned finance and a strong business acumen, which she used throughout her charitable career to make ongoing donations to the fields of education, health and wellbeing, senior care, the arts, religion, and the care of children. During these years Virginia Galvin Piper continued to work with the entire Galvin family on many philanthropic projects across the country. Since Virginia’s death in 1999, the Virginia Galvin Piper Charitable Trust’s trustees and executive staff continue to carry out the original visionary leadership in philanthropy of the Galvin family Motorola founders, now with a focus on benefiting thousands of charities, primarily focused in uplifting the Phoenix community.
Robert W. Galvin
Bob Galvin, the only son of Motorola, Inc. founder Paul Galvin, led Motorola from a $200 million car radio and consumer electronics company in 1956 into a multi-billion-dollar global leader in telecommunications, semiconductors, mobile radio systems, and embedded automotive and government electronics by 1986. In addition to Bob’s extraordinary accomplishments in business, he was also a generous philanthropist. Bob selflessly “adopted” Illinois Tech, which he never attended but considered essential to Chicago and the world, as his highest priority philanthropic cause. Bob served on the Illinois Tech Board of Trustees for more than 50 years, chairing it for 10 years. He made his family’s largest philanthropic gift of $60 million to Illinois Tech, which named the Robert W. Galvin Center for Electricity Innovation and Paul V. Galvin Library in his family’s honor. Bob was the leading spokesman for the U.S. business community in opening up the then-closed Japanese and Chinese marketplaces to all American technology businesses. Bob was further the leading spokesman for Six Sigma quality practices, after having led the Motorola culture that won the first company-wide Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award adjudged by the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Bob Galvin was awarded, among other honors: the prestigious National Medal of Technology and Innovation, Vannevar Bush Award of the National Science Foundation, acceptance into the National Business Hall of Fame, the Legion of Honor (one of France’s highest awards), and the Marconi Society Lifetime Achievement Award. Bob, as Motorola CEO, together with Illinois Tech alumnus and Motorola senior executive John Mitchell, backed another Illinois Tech alumnus, Marty Cooper (EE ’50, M.S. ’57), to be the first tech company to commercialize and convert landline telephony into the cellular mobile phone industry. Bob Galvin was highly active in retirement, creating a nonprofit think tank to transform the electricity industry from bulk grid to microgrid as he envisioned in the book he co-authored, Perfect Power: How the Microgrid Revolution Will Unleash Cleaner, Greener, More Abundant Energy. Bob was also a scholar on the founding of America and authored the book America’s Founding Secret—What the Scottish Enlightenment Taught Our Founding Fathers. Bob also chronicled the Galvin philosophies in business that made Motorola so successful in The Idea of Ideas and The Principal of Principles.
“At times we must engage in the act of faith…that key things are doable that are not provable.” —Robert W. Galvin
Mary B. Galvin
Mary Galvin, married to Robert W. Galvin, is one of the most transforming philanthropic leaders in classical music and the performing arts—not only in Chicago, but nationally and internationally. While accomplishing such transformational outcomes, she also served on Illinois Tech’s Institute of Design Advisory Board and cultivated Illinois Tech alumni and donor relationships in support of her husband’s work as board chair. Mary was most notably the founder of the Stradivarius Society in 1985, through which antique Italian violin investors made available their rare instruments to serious but economically challenged young violin prodigies such as Midori, Joshua Bell, Gil Shaham, Leila Josefowicz, and Vadim Gluzman. Together with Fred Eychaner (Hon. Ph.D. ARCH ’22), Mary was a pivotal advocate in convincing then-Artistic Director Jerry Arpino of the Joffrey Ballet to move the ballet company’s headquarters to Chicago from New York City in 1995. So extensive were her contributions to the performing arts, particularly in Chicago and throughout Illinois, that the governor of Illinois and the mayor of Chicago declared April 26, 2013, as Mary Galvin Day. It was a day to encourage all Chicagoans to both enjoy music and engage in musical activities for themselves and their children. In May of 2015, Mary received the Music Institute of Chicago’s Cultural Visionary Award for Chicago which recognizes individuals who provide visionary philanthropic and civic leadership to the broad spectrum of the arts in Chicago and throughout Illinois.
Michael P. Galvin
Our board chair and the namesake of our tallest building, Michael P. Galvin (LAW ’78) has followed in his father Bob Galvin’s footsteps when it comes to the unwavering support of and belief in the mission of Illinois Tech. A graduate of the Chicago-Kent College of Law, Mike went to work as a corporate finance transactions partner for the law firm Winston & Strawn here in Chicago before later co-founding Harrison Street Real Estate Capital and becoming vice chair of the Galvin family investment holding company. Known for his relentless focus on tech innovation, his commitment to ethics, and his dedication to public service, Mike has also served the United States Department of Commerce as assistant secretary for Export Administration, a role in which he worked to reform and negotiate post-Cold War strategic trade policies. As one of the most prolific philanthropists in Illinois Tech history, Mike has supported countless strategic priorities and initiatives for the university, has given extensively to scholarships, and has even established the Michael Paul Galvin Chair in Entrepreneurship and Applied Legal Technology.
“Listen more than you talk: The most innovative ideas often come from the shop floor and/or from those with differing life experiences.” —Michael P. Galvin
Christopher B. Galvin
Chris Galvin has a passion for innovation and, as a business leader, sought continuous renewal in his organizations. Chris currently heads his own hi-tech venture capital fund with his two sons, David and William. One of Chris’s most spectacular venture successes was as the lead venture investor and board chair of Cleversafe, a startup company incubated at Illinois Tech and later successfully sold to IBM. Before Cleversafe, Chris co-founded Harrison Street Real Estate Capital with his brother and Illinois Tech alumnus Mike Galvin and close family friend Chris Merrill. Prior to founding this business, Chris served as the chair and CEO of Motorola, Inc., where he worked for over 36 years in various roles, from his first summer job in a factory tools crib to a C-suite for his last seven years with the company. While CEO of Motorola, Chris Galvin was particularly proud of the team that he attracted and led, which: (1) invented the first cable modem; (2) integrated the first hardware and software for turn-by-turn GPS electronic map navigation in a car; (3) originated the technologies that enabled and spawned the founding of Nextel Communications, which was sold to Sprint a decade later for $35 billion; and (4) created Motorola’s hit cell phone models, the StarTAC and RAZR, among others. Chris advanced Motorola’s tradition of creating not just new products but whole new industries approximately every fifteen years. The Global Business Network ranked the turnaround of Motorola by Chris’ team as one of the top five largest and most successful high technology company turnarounds, in the same class with the other esteemed turnarounds of that era such as IBM, HP, Xerox, and Apple. In his role as chair of the Robert W. Galvin Foundation, Chris authorized the transformational donations to Illinois Tech which launched the Robert W. Galvin Center for Electricity Innovation.
“Leaders take people elsewhere, allowing them to accomplish what could never be achieved without new direction.” —Christopher B. Galvin