Doug Cooper went to work for Intel, (Nasdaq: INTC) then a fledgling microprocessor manufacturer, at its Canadian subsidiary in 1983.
To give you a sense of how long ago that was note this: Pierre Trudeau was still the prime minister of Canada; the average cost of new house in Toronto was $82,600; ARPANET officially changed to Internet Protocol establishing what we call today the Internet; the first mobile phones are introduced by Motorola; Sally Ride becomes the first woman in space on the Space Shuttle Challenger; the First Person to Receive an Artificial Heart Barney Clark dies after 112 days; and in sports the Toronto Argonauts ended a 50 year drought to win the Grey Cup, while future baseball MVP Joey Votto in born in Toronto.
That’s how long it’s been for Cooper as the only GM Intel Canada has ever had. Cooper after a long sabbatical this year decided to leave his post to work part time for a venture capital company in the Tech Triangle.
Cooper graduated from the University of Waterloo in 1981 as an electrical engineer and joined Intel as an applications engineer. When Intel acquired Sarnoff Labs in Princeton, N.J. Cooper helped to establish Intel Digital Video Interactive technology (DVI) to broadcast and multimedia organizations across the country.
Cooper also played a major role in creating Intel’s FP500 program in which he served as the technology liaison to the IT departments of some of Canada’s most influential companies. He took over Intel marketing in 1995 and in 2000 took on the same role for Intel Latin America. In 2003. CDN named Cooper that year’s Top Newsmaker.
In a previous interview celebrating his 25 year at Intel, Cooper said: “It’s been a roller coaster ride. The great thing about working at Intel is that there are so many things going on and each day and month so everything’s always different. I would say the biggest thing for us at Intel has been in making the transition to a world where Intel inside is the primary driver for purchasing. Notebooks have become less expensive and the biggest challenge for us now is to make it clear to consumers that not all notebook platforms are the same. It’s about establishing and educating that it’s what’s inside the notebook that’s important.”