Prior to retirement in November 1993, William E. (Bill) Terry was Executive Vice President of the Measurement Systems Sector and a Director of the Hewlett-Packard Company, located in Palo Alto, California.
HP’s Measurement Systems Sector included four groups. Products included test and measurement, components, medical products and analytical instruments. He was also responsible for some of the corporate staff service functions (e.g. procurement, quality engineering and manufacturing).
Terry joined Hewlett-Packard in November 1957, as a sales engineer. Following a variety of assignments in the sales organization and in corporate marketing, he became Marketing Manager of the Colorado Springs Division in 1965. Two years later he was named General Manager of that division.
In February 1971, he was appointed General Manager of the Data Products Group with headquarters in Cupertino, California, and the following December he was elected corporate Vice President.
Terry was named Vice President and General Manager of HP’s Instrument Groups in 1974 and in 1980 was promoted to Executive Vice President. In July 1984, he was responsible for HP’s instrument and design systems groups. He assumed his position as Executive Vice President of the Measurement Systems Sector in 1986 and was a member of the Board of Directors before retiring in 1993.
Born April 11, 1933, in San Jose, California, Bill Terry graduated from the University of Santa Clara in 1955 with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, after which he served two years as a 1st Lieutenant in the army as an electronics instructor and laboratory supervisor.
Terry served as Chairman of the American Electronics Association in 1976; as Chairman of the Santa Clara County Manufacturing Group 1988-91; and as Chairman of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation 1995-96. He represented HP in a variety of roles: California Business Roundtable, Joint Venture Silicon Valley, Women’s Resource Center, Industrial Initiative for Math and Science, etc. He is a member of the Advisory Committee of the Santa Clara University Engineering School. In 1983, he was elected to the university’s Board of Regents (Chairman 1989-90) and Board of Trustees in 1997.