Mr. Jerome Svigals

Born in 1926 in the Bronx, New York, he attended City College of New York. In 1950, as second lieutenant in the U.S. Army, he worked on developing the first electronic computer, becoming one of the world?s first digital programmers. Starting with IBM in 1954, he was the company?s first employee hired for marketing the professional computer. He devised the strategy of selling computer support services and eventually ran IBM?s global marketing system. In the mid-1960s, he conducted initial research on a machine-readable storage medium and became project manager for magnetic stripe cards. Regarded as the ?father of mag-stripe cards,? he brought the technology to the air transport, mass transit and banking industries. Thereafter he became the key figure in establishing national and global standards for magnetic stripe data storage. He has authored 25 books on card technology and banking, and is a leading consultant to the financial industry.