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Martin Cooper is chairman of ArrayComm, Inc., and serves on the boards of Spectrian, Inc. and several other companies. He is widely recognized as a pioneer in the personal communications industry and as an innovator in the management of research and development. He is an inventor, introduced, in 1973, the first portable cellular radiotelephone, and has been called the father of cellular telephony.
Mr. Cooper was a founder of Cellular Business Systems, Inc. (CBSI), now a part of Cincinnati Bell. Before its acquisition, CBSI provided billing and management services to most cellular companies in the U.S. Before that he was Corporate Director of Research and Development for Motorola, Inc., responsible for the creation and stimulation of technology throughout Motorola. He joined Motorola in 1954 as a research engineer and advanced through a number of engineering and management positions before becoming a corporate officer in 1969 and vice president and general manager of the Communications Systems Division in 1977.
Mr. Cooper led, during his 29 years at Motorola, the creation of a number of major businesses including:
High-capacity paging annual sales in 1996 over $1 billion
Trunked mobile radio systems (known as SMRS) annual sales over $1 billion
Cellular radio telephone annual sales over $20 billion
Quartz crystals, oscillators, liquid crystal displays, and piezo-electric components annual sales several hundred million dollars.
Motorola A.M. Stereo technology, earning in excess of $1 million a year in royalties
Various mobile and portable two way radio product lines
While at Motorola, he had top secret clearance while participating in and managing highly classified government development programs. He advised the Motorola Foundation in its charitable endowments and contributions, managed its central research laboratories, and was Motorola’s technology leader.
Mr. Cooper was involved in industry and government efforts to allocate new radio frequency spectrum for the land mobile radio services and was granted seven patents in the communications field. He has been widely published on various aspects of communications technology and on management of research and development.
Mr. Cooper is a graduate of the Illinois Institute of Technology with bachelor’s and masters degrees in Electrical Engineering.
He is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) and of the Radio Club of America (RCA) and is a member of ETA Kappa Ku (electrical engineering honorary society) and Rho Epsilon (radio engineering honorary). He served in various offices of the Vehicular Technology Society of the IEEE and was president of the society in 1972 and 1973. Mr. Cooper was awarded the IEEE Centennial Medal in 1984 and the RCA Fred Link award in 1996.
Mr. Cooper has served on technical committees of the Electronic Industries Association and the National Research Council as well as numerous industry and civic groups. He is a Distinguished Lecturer for the International Electronics Consortium and serves on its Advisory Board. | 