- For the Mayor of San Diego, California, see Jerry Sanders (politician)
Gerald Robert "Jerry" Sanders is a Republican politician, Mayor of San Diego, California, and former Chief of Police.- Personal :...
.
Walter Jeremiah Sanders III (born September 12, 1936) was a co-founder and a long-time CEO of the American semiconductor manufacturer
Advanced Micro DevicesAdvanced Micro Devices, Inc. is an American multinational semiconductor company based in Sunnyvale, California, that develops computer processors and related technologies for commercial and consumer markets...
(AMD).
Jerry Sanders III grew up in the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, raised by his paternal grandparents. He was once attacked and beaten by a street gang , leaving him so covered in blood that a priest was called to administer the
last ritesAnointing of the Sick is distinguished from other forms of religious anointing or "unction" in that it is intended, as its name indicates, for the benefit of a sick person. Other religious anointings occur in relation to other sacraments, in particular baptism, confirmation and ordination, and...
, but Jerry recovered.
- For the Mayor of San Diego, California, see Jerry Sanders (politician)
Gerald Robert "Jerry" Sanders is a Republican politician, Mayor of San Diego, California, and former Chief of Police.- Personal :...
.
Walter Jeremiah Sanders III (born September 12, 1936) was a co-founder and a long-time CEO of the American semiconductor manufacturer
Advanced Micro DevicesAdvanced Micro Devices, Inc. is an American multinational semiconductor company based in Sunnyvale, California, that develops computer processors and related technologies for commercial and consumer markets...
(AMD).
Jerry Sanders III grew up in the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, raised by his paternal grandparents. He was once attacked and beaten by a street gang , leaving him so covered in blood that a priest was called to administer the
last ritesAnointing of the Sick is distinguished from other forms of religious anointing or "unction" in that it is intended, as its name indicates, for the benefit of a sick person. Other religious anointings occur in relation to other sacraments, in particular baptism, confirmation and ordination, and...
, but Jerry recovered. He attended the
University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignThe University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is a public research university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the oldest and largest campus in the University of Illinois system....
on an academic scholarship from the
Pullman railroad car companyThe Pullman Palace Car Company, founded by George Pullman, manufactured railroad cars in the mid to late 1800s through the early decades of the 20th century, during the boom of railroads in the United States. Pullman developed the sleeping car which carried his name into the 1980s...
. He graduated with his
bachelor's degreeA bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for four years, but can range from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
in engineering in 1958.
After graduation he went to work for the
Douglas Aircraft CompanyThe Douglas Aircraft Company was an American aerospace manufacturer, based in Long Beach, California. It was founded in 1921 by Donald Wills Douglas, Sr. and later merged with McDonnell Aircraft in 1967 to form McDonnell Douglas. It is currently a part of Boeing's Commercial Airplanes...
. He eventually moved to
MotorolaMotorola, Inc. is an American, multinational, Fortune 100, telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois. It is a manufacturer of wireless telephone handsets, and also designs and sells wireless network infrastructure equipment such as cellular transmission base stations and signal...
, then to
Fairchild SemiconductorPresent day Fairchild Semiconductor International, Inc. is a spin-off company resulting from reconstitution of assets in National Semiconductor. It inherits the Fairchild name of the original Fairchild Camera and Instrument Corporation, which had been the cornerstone of the semiconductor industry...
. He became known as one of
FairchildPresent day Fairchild Semiconductor International, Inc. is a spin-off company resulting from reconstitution of assets in National Semiconductor. It inherits the Fairchild name of the original Fairchild Camera and Instrument Corporation, which had been the cornerstone of the semiconductor industry...
's best sales people in the 1960s and was famous for his style and flair.
In 1968
Sherman FairchildSherman Mills Fairchild was an inventor and serial entrepreneur who founded such companies as Fairchild Aircraft, Fairchild Stratos, Fairchild Hiller, Fairchild Recording, Fairchild Industries now the Fairchild Corporation and Fairchild Camera and Instrument...
brought a new management team into Fairchild Semiconductor, led by C. Lester Hogan, then vice president of
Motorola SemiconductorMotorola, Inc. is an American, multinational, Fortune 100, telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois. It is a manufacturer of wireless telephone handsets, and also designs and sells wireless network infrastructure equipment such as cellular transmission base stations and signal...
. The troops from Motorola, also known as "Hogan's Heroes", were notoriously conservative, and immediately clashed with Sanders' boisterous style.
He was one of the architects of Silicon Valley.
In 1969 a group of Fairchild engineers decided to start a new company, which became
Advanced Micro DevicesAdvanced Micro Devices, Inc. is an American multinational semiconductor company based in Sunnyvale, California, that develops computer processors and related technologies for commercial and consumer markets...
(AMD). They asked Jerry Sanders to join them, and he said he would, provided he became the president of the company. Although it caused some dissension within the group, they agreed, and the company was founded with Sanders as President.
Sanders took his trademark style into his position as the CEO of AMD.
He remained the company's consummate salesperson, always available to come in on the really tough negotiations and close them. He loved visiting the
Los AngelesLos Angeles is the largest city in the state of California and the second largest in the United States. Often abbreviated as L.A. and nicknamed The City of Angels, Los Angeles has an estimated population of 3.8 million and spans over in Southern California...
sales office on Wilshire Blvd near Hollywood and staying at the Beverly Hills
HiltonHilton Hotels is an international chain of full-service hotels and resorts founded by Conrad Hilton and now owned by the Hilton Worldwide. Hilton Hotels are either owned, managed, or franchised to independent operators by the Hilton Hotels Corporation. there are 533 Hilton branded hotels across...
. Sanders always wanted to make money, but he realized that the key to earning wealth was for everyone else at AMD to make a lot of money too. While growing wealthy, he also lavished wealth generously on all his employees. At the end of the company's first $1 million quarter, Sanders stood by the door of the company and handed a $100 bill to every employee as they left. Every employee at the company got stock options, a huge innovation at the time.
Sanders gave the company a strong sales and marketing orientation, so that it was successful even though it was often a little behind its competitors in technology and manufacturing. He shared the success of the company with the employees, usually coincident with sales-oriented growth targets. One time, as a successful sales goal was met, the company held a drawing among all the employees, and an immigrant production worker in
Sunnyvale, CaliforniaSunnyvale is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. It is one of the major cities that make up the Silicon Valley. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 131,760....
won $1000 a month for 20 years (USD 240,000).
He drove the company through hard times as well. In 1974, a particularly bad
recessionIn economics, a recession is a general slowdown in economic activity over a long period of time, or a business cycle contraction. During recessions, many macroeconomic indicators vary in a similar way...
almost broke the company, but a brilliant sales deal worked out by Sanders with one of the company's distributors saved the company. Through many difficult recessions he refused to lay off employees, a reaction to the rampant layoffs that had occurred at Fairchild earlier. Instead of cutting employees, he asked them to work Saturdays to get more done and get new products out sooner.
In 1982, he was responsible for a licensing deal with Intel that made AMD a second source to
IBMInternational Business Machines Corporation, abbreviated IBM, is a multinational computer technology and IT consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, Town of North Castle, New York, United States. The company is one of the few information technology companies with a continuous history dating...
for the Intel
MicroprocessorA microprocessor incorporates most or all of the functions of a central processing unit on a single integrated circuit . The first microprocessors emerged in the early 1970s and were used for electronic calculators, using binary-coded decimal arithmetic on 4-bit words...
series, a deal that eventually made the company the only real competitor to Intel.
In 2000, Sanders recruited
Héctor RuizHector de Jesus Ruiz is the executive chairman and former CEO of semiconductor company Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. .-Education:Ruiz was born in the border town of Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico...
, at the time the president of Motorola's Semiconductor Products Sector, to serve as AMD's president and chief operating officer, and to become heir apparent to lead the company upon Sanders' retirement. Ruiz succeeded Sanders in the CEO's seat in 2002.
Jerry Sanders has 4 children, three who are now adults and one who is currently living with him and his wife, Tawny, and is currently retired. He enjoys his life by travelling,attending cultural events, and donating his time and money to many non profits in Los Angeles and beyond.He remains in extremely great health, has the same entertaining personality as always.
Sanders created Advanced Micro Devices; his personality was the company's personality — colorful, brash,and extremely innovative.
His maxim was: "people first, products and profit will follow!" This was given as a printout for each AMD worker who started a job at AMD in Dresden/Germany until Jerry Sanders retiring.
Jerry Sanders has Three children from his first marriage and one from his second.
With First wife:
Tracy Sanders Yort: Born 1963
Lara Sanders Baumgarten: Born 1967
Alison Sanders Petrocelli: Born 1970
With Second (current) wife: Tawny Lee Sanders
Daughter: Paris Sanders: Born 1996
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External links