John Diebold

John T. Diebold was born in Weehawken, New Jersey, on June 8, 1926. He graduated with a B.S. in Engineering from the United States Merchant Marine Academy in 1946, following wartime service in the merchant marine. He received a BA with high honors in economics from Swarthmore College in 1949, and afficher plus an MBA with distinction from the Harvard Business School in 1951. When studying at the Harvard Business School Diebold accepted the least popular job in his class of 600 in order to work for a low-paying consulting firm, which he later acquired. After graduation, he formed his own company, at first working out of the house where he was born in Weehawken, New Jersey. At only 26 years old, Diebold published his first book called Automation, published by Van Nostrand in 1952. The book was based on his studies at Harvard Business School. The book was reissued unchanged on its 30th anniversary and is seen as a "management classic" by the American Management Association. In fact, Diebold is credited with coining the word automation in its present-day meaning. He had a great deal to do with introducing the term to general usage. He founded John Diebold and Associates in 1954, which grew into the Diebold Group Inc. The firm provided counsel to over 100 cities, most U.S. states, several foreign governments and major corporations, in the U.S. and abroad. He was a trustee of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, the Committee for Economic Development, the National Planning Association, a Fellow of the International Academy of Management, a Member, Executive Committee, the Public Agenda Foundation; Chairman, U.S.East Asian History of Science and Vice Chairman of the Academy for Educational Development. In 1984, he wrote his second book entitled, Making the Future Work: Unleashing our Powers of Innovation for the Decades Ahead. Diebold died on December 26, 2005 in Bedford Hills, New York. (Bowker Author Biography) afficher moins