Rowland Hanson, (born 1952) is the current Chairman of CRH & Associates, and the CEO of the HMC Company. He is known for his work in
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...
, where he convinced the company to name their new
graphical user interface
A graphical user interface, or GUI, is a form of user interface that allows user (computing), users to human–computer interaction, interact with electronic devices through Graphics, graphical icon (computing), icons and visual indicators such ...
(GUI) "Windows" over the original proposal, "Interface Manager."
Education
Hanson received a
BBA from
Loyola Marymount University and an
MBA
A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...
from the
Wharton School of Business at the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...
, where he graduated on the Directors List of Distinction.
Work history
Hanson served as the Vice President of Worldwide Marketing for the Neutrogena Corporation, acquired by Johnson & Johnson for a “significant premium.”
Johnson & Johnson’s acquisition of
Neutrogena – which was largely for the brand’s strength – caught the attention of Microsoft founder Bill Gates and CEO Steve Ballmer, who convinced Hanson to join them in over branding efforts of what eventually became known as Windows.
Hanson served as a branding consultant for companies like
Monsanto,
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...
and
Nautilus
A nautilus (; ) is any of the various species within the cephalopod family Nautilidae. This is the sole extant family of the superfamily Nautilaceae and the suborder Nautilina.
It comprises nine living species in two genera, the type genus, ty ...
, which created BowFlex.
Hanson now serves as the GM of Strategic Partnering for the Microsoft Alumni Foundation
– the complementary organization to the
Gates Foundation
The Gates Foundation is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was launched in 2000 and is reported to be the third largest charitable foundation in the world, holding $ ...
, which focuses on enhancing global healthcare and reducing extreme poverty, and in the U.S., to expand education and access to information technology.
Related pages
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History of Microsoft Windows
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Windows 9x
Windows 9x is a generic term referring to a line of discontinued Microsoft Windows operating systems released from 1995 to 2000 and supported until 2006, which were based on the kernel introduced in Windows 95 and modified in succeeding version ...
*
Delrina
Delrina Corporation was a Canadian software company active from 1988 to 1995. The company was best known for WinFax, a software package which enabled computers equipped with fax modems to transmit copies of documents to standalone fax machines or ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hanson, Roland
American technology chief executives
Wharton School alumni
Microsoft people
Living people
1935 births