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Patrick McGovern Biography
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Patrick J. McGovern
Founder and Chairman
Email Patrick McGovern
Profile Updated January 15, 2008
Patrick J. McGovern is Founder and Chairman of International Data Group (IDG), the world’s leading technology publishing, research and event management company, with annual revenues in 2007 of $3.02 billion.
McGovern’s career in publishing began while he was a student at MIT, when he applied for a part-time editorial job at Computers and Automation—the first U.S. computer magazine. He was promptly named associate editor and became associate publisher upon his graduation from MIT in 1959 with a degree in biophysics.
In 1964, with the computer industry still in its infancy, McGovern founded International Data Corporation (IDC), now an IDG research subsidiary, to provide the industry with timely and reliable statistics on information technology (IT) markets. Three years later, McGovern launched Computerworld, a weekly newspaper dedicated to keeping computer buyers abreast of industry and product news.
Computerworld became IDG’s flagship publication and in 1972, McGovern began exporting the Computerworld concept, launching Shukan Computer in Japan. By “thinking globally but acting locally,” a strategy that continues to guide IDG’s worldwide expansion, McGovern ensured that the Japanese publication would not be a Computerworld clone. From the start, it was edited and managed by a Japanese staff whose mission was to satisfy readers through a superior editorial product tailored to local market needs.
McGovern has overseen IDG’s launch of more than 300 magazines and newspapers in nearly 90 countries, including such globally recognized titles as Computerworld, GamePro, InfoWorld, Macworld, Network World, CIO and PC World. Over 900 IDC analysts provide market research, analysis and consulting in 90 countries. IDG produces more than 750 events and expos in 55 countries including international series of LinuxWorld Conference & Expo and Macworld Conference & Expo.
“Thinking globally” is the heart of McGovern’s growth strategy for IDG and is behind his remarkable track record in identifying and opening new markets. In 1980, McGovern established one of the first joint ventures between a U.S. company and the People’s Republic of China. Today, IDG has more than 40 publications in China, the world’s fastest growing major IT market. According to BtoB Media Business magazine’s May 2004 issue:
“McGovern can rightly be called a visionary, having seen when he founded the company in 1964 that the world would grow increasingly computerized and internationalized.”
“Acting locally” describes McGovern’s commitment to his people and to a decentralized management structure focused on respect for IDG employees and customers. In April 2004, Inc. magazine named McGovern one of its “25 Entrepreneurs We Love” for “knowing the power of respect.”
“His commitment to decentralization has created a constellation of motivated business units that make their own decisions about everything from how to reward staff to what new businesses to launch. He also treats his end customers-the readers of such publications as Computerworld, PC World and Macworld-with consummate respect. At IDG the quality of content is sacrosanct…”
In January 2005, McGovern received the Magazine Publishers of America’s (MPA) Lifetime Achievement award. In selecting IDG’s Founder and Chairman MPA said: “Pat McGovern has combined his belief in the power of technology with his vast knowledge of publishing to create a powerhouse company that is a leading global provider of news, information and research about information technology.” His other recent awards are the 2004 Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Business Publications Editors (ASBPE) and a Top Innovator in Business Publishing Award from BtoB Media Business magazine.
Additional honors include The James Smithsonian Bicentennial Medal from the Smithsonian Institution, The Business Publisher of the Year from The Delaney Report, The Communicator of the Year from the New York Chapter of the Business and Professional Advertisers Association, The Entrepreneur of the Year from Ernst & Young and the Entrepreneurial Leadership Award from the MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge, Inc.
Among his many affiliations, McGovern has served as a director of the Information Industry Association, the Magazine Publishers Association, and the American Management Association. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. McGovern is also a trustee of MIT, the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT and the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research.
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