Ronald Arthur Stordahl is the founder of electronic component distributor
Digi-Key
DigiKey Corporation (formerly written as Digi-Key) is an American electronic components distributor. The company was founded in 1972 by Ronald Stordahl. DigiKey is the fourth largest electronic component distributor in North America and the fif ...
Electronics, located in
Thief River Falls, Minnesota. He previously served as chief executive officer but is now member of the board.
Early life
Ronald was born in
Roseau, Minnesota to Arthur Vernon (1909–2011) and Ina (Olson) Stordahl (1922–2020) in 1943. His paternal grandfather, Louis, was an immigrant from
Flesberg,
Buskerud
Buskerud () is a Counties of Norway, county and a current electoral district in Norway, bordering Akershus, Oslo, Innlandet, Vestland, Telemark and Vestfold. The region extends from the Oslofjord and Drammensfjorden in the southeast to Hardanger ...
,
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
.
Career
Stordahl's interest in
ham radio
Amateur radio, also known as ham radio, is the use of the radio frequency spectrum for purposes of non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, private recreation, radiosport, contesting, and emergency communi ...
provided the springboard for what became Digi-Key Electronics. While in college he assembled and began selling an
electronic keyer kit, called the Digi-Keyer, for sending
radiotelegraph
Wireless telegraphy or radiotelegraphy is the transmission of text messages by radio waves, analogous to electrical telegraphy using electrical cable, cables. Before about 1910, the term ''wireless telegraphy'' was also used for other experimenta ...
code for
ham radio
Amateur radio, also known as ham radio, is the use of the radio frequency spectrum for purposes of non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, private recreation, radiosport, contesting, and emergency communi ...
operators.
After obtaining his
PhD
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...
in
electrical engineering
Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...
from the
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...
,
Stordahl returned to his hometown of Thief River Falls. The keyer kit was discontinued and he began selling electronic components in 1972.
Digi-Key Electronics has become one of the fastest growing electronic component distributors in the world. The privately held company has annual sales of over $3 billion and employs over 4,000 people.
Stordahl holds the amateur radio callsign AE5E.
References
External links
*
Living people
University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering alumni
American chief executives
American company founders
Amateur radio people
1943 births
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