Casio
A leader in the field of consumer electronics marketing, John McDonald is responsible for making the Casio name familiar to consumers across the globe. Without McDonald’s contributions to the CE industry, the market for such devices as pocket calculators, electronic watches and portable LCD televisions would not have developed as it did.
After graduating from Brooklyn College in 1951 with a bachelor’s degree in English, McDonald served in the U.S. Army from 1952 to 1954. He began working for Sperry Rand in the early 1970s, where he was responsible for introducing Sperry-branded Casio calculators to the European market. In 1975, McDonald was chosen by Casio co-founder Toshio Kashio to become president of Casio Europe and managing director of Casio Electronics in the U.K. At the 1978 Winter Consumer Electronics Show (CES) held in Las Vegas, Nevada, McDonald was introduced by Kashio as the new president of Casio Electronics (U.S.). He returned to the U.S. and in addition to his role as president of Casio also served as a member of the Electronic Industries Alliance (EIA) board of governors and as a member and past chairman of the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) Executive Board.
One memorable moment at the company involved the Casio G-Shock Watch, said to be able to withstand a full 1G worth of shock. When NBC took Casio’s challenge and dropped the watch ten stories from a helicopter, the watch survived unharmed. McDonald also served on many other boards to help to grow the CE industry, such as his completion of a two-year term as chairman of the National Science & Technology Education Partnership (NSTEP), formerly the Electronics Industries Foundation. McDonald also was a member of the board of directors of the Brooklyn College Foundation, associated with his alma mater, Brooklyn College.
He retired in 1999 after 25 years with Casio, and was awarded the TWICE Distinguished Achievement Award at the 2000 International CES. He and his wife, Tessa, have three children and four grandchildren.