Mr. Jonathan Schmidt

Born in Ann Arbor Michigan, at the age of eight he contracted polio. While spending time in an iron lung he decided to study radio if he ever got out. When he did, he became a ham radio operator, receiving his license in 1953; he also developed an interest in teletype. He worked with the hospital ship Hope while in college and after receiving his B.A. degree in Mathematics he joined them as a radio technician in Ecuador , Peru and then West Africa. He later reenrolled at the University of Michigan and received his Master?s degree in Mathematics. He was working on his Ph.D. when in 1966 he joined Vic Poor as an engineer in Frederick, Maryland at Frederick Electronics. He worked on teletype switching and related products. In 1969 Plantronics purchased Frederick Electronics and he, along with Vic Poor and Harry Pyle, went to San Antonio where they joined Computer Terminal Corporation. They helped design the Datapoint 2200, an extremely successful computer terminal. The company later became Datapoint Corporation. He served as Vice President of Advanced Product Development from 1969-1985, and his core group created the industry's first commercial LAN (ARCNET) and numerous products that supported a business with 10,000 employees worldwide. In 1985, he co-founded and served as Executive Vice-President, Business Development of Performance Technology (PerfTech). His technical leadership earned him Inc. Magazine's "Entrepreneur of the Year? Award. He has served as a strategist, a Board member of high-tech companies, a frequent conference speaker, and has authored many technology patents.