C. Gordon Bell

Gordon Bell is a senior researcher at Microsoft, and a computer industry consultant. He spent 23 years at Digital Equipment Corporation as vice president of R&D; while there, he was responsible for the first mini- and timesharing computers and led the development of DEC's highly-successful VAX architecture.

Bell was involved in designing many products at Digital, and starting several companies. As the first assistant director for computing at the National Science Foundation (NSF), he led the National Research Network panel that became the NII/GII, and was an author of the High Performance Computer and Communications Initiative.

Bell is also the author of several books and papers on computing and entrepreneurship. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 1991, Bell received the National Medal of Technology from President George Bush.