Jon Shirley

Jon Shirley
Born	1938 (age 77–78) San Diego, California
Residence	Medina, Washington
Occupation	former president of Microsoft
Spouse(s)	Mary (1939-2013)

Jon A. Shirley (born 1938) was president of Microsoft from 1983 through 1990, and a director until 2008.

Shirley was born in San Diego, California. He attended The Hill School in Pottstown, Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Shirley started at Tandy Corporation in 1968, holding various positions in sales, merchandising, manufacturing, and international operations. He left Tandy as vice president of computer merchandising in 1983, to become president, chief operating officer, and director of Microsoft.^[1][2]

Shirley was later mentioned in press accounts for refusing to upgrade his second computer to Windows Vista after upgrading his first.^[3][4]

He and his late wife Mary collected the artworks of Alexander Calder among many others. Their collection is now on view at the Seattle Art Museum.

Shirley is a significant car collector, and has several vintage Ferraris including a 1967 275 GTS Spyder and the 1954 375 MM Scaglietti coupe commmissioned by Roberto Rossellini for his wife Ingrid Bergman. Shirley and restoration specialist Butch Dennison restored the 375 MM coupe and it became the first postwar Ferrari to win Best of Show at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. Shirley later said of the Scaglietti coupe that "At the time, I'm sure people would say that it was the most astronomically dumb amount of money to spend on a car that's in bits and pieces...But I always say the same thing: 'Yes, but [now] I have the car'".^[5]

References

1. "Shirley directs computer sales". TRS-80 Computing. 1 (3): 21. 1979.
2. "Jon A. Shirley". Microsoft. November 10, 2003. Retrieved 2008-03-09.
3. "Microsoft top brass 'burned' by Vista problems". The Sydney Morning Herald. February 29, 2008.
4. "Microsoft execs on Vista problems".
5. Shaun Tolson. "Robb 50 Connoisseurs: Jon Shirley". Robb Report. Retrieved 11 May 2016.