Juan R. Rodriguez

Pioneer in the development of advanced computer data storage technologies across four decades, Rodriguez co-founded Storage Technology Corporation in 1969 along with three other IBM engineers: Jesse Awieda, Thomas S. Kavanagh, and Zoltan Herger.

Born in Santiago, Cuba, his family moved to the United States in November of 1953, where his father became a translator in the U.N. Rodriguez attended Bayside High School in Queens, New York City. He received a Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from the City College of New York and a Master's degree in Electrical Engineering from New York University.

After starting his career at IBM in Poughkeepsie, NY as a tape drive engineer, in 1966 IBM moved the tape division to Boulder, Colorado, and he agreed to move with the division. He had just been promoted from Junior Engineer to Associate Engineer.

The company officially became known as StorageTek in 1983. At StorageTek, he served as Vice President of Engineering, Vice President and General Manager of Hard Disk Operations, and VP and GM of Optical Disk Operations.

In 1985, he left StorageTek to co-found Exabyte, where he held the positions of Chairman, President and CEO. In 1996, Rodriguez co-founded Ecrix Corporation, serving as its Chairman and CEO. Ecrix merged with Exabyte in 2001. He also served on the Boards of Maxtor, Vixel, and Iomega. He has served on the Board of HiveLive, an Internet start-up, and has been a connectivity partner at Appian Ventures.

From 1992 through 2003, Rodriguez joined the College of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Colorado, Boulder as a professor, and was instrumental in establishing and became the Co-executive Director of the Deming Center. He subsequently held the position of Professor Adjunct. He was elected a Fellow of the IEEE in 1990, and was awarded the CCNY Engineering School Alumni Group's Career Achievement Award in 2002 and the prestigious Townsend Harris Medal in 2003.