Magazine Publishers of America
Patrick J McGovern
PATRICK J. MCGOVERNFounder and ChairmanInternational Data Group
McGovern’s career in publishing began while he was a student at MIT, when he applied for a part-time editorial job at Computers and Automation—the first U.S. computer magazine. He was promptly named associate editor and became associate publisher upon his graduation from MIT in 1959 with a degree in biophysics.
In 1964, with the computer industry still in its infancy, McGovern founded International Data Corporation (IDC), now an IDG research subsidiary, to provide the industry with timely and reliable statistics on information technology (IT) markets. Three years later, McGovern launched Computerworld, a weekly newspaper dedicated to keeping computer buyers abreast of industry and product news.
Computerworld became IDG’s flagship publication and in 1972, McGovern began exporting the Computerworld concept, launching Shukan Computer in Japan. By “thinking globally but acting locally,” a strategy that continues to guide IDG’s worldwide expansion, McGovern ensured that the Japanese publication would not be a Computerworld clone. From the start, it was edited and managed by a Japanese staff whose mission was to satisfy readers through a superior editorial product tailored to local market needs.
McGovern has overseen IDG’s launch of more than 300 magazines and newspapers in 85 countries, including such globally recognized titles as Computerworld, InfoWorld, Macworld, Network World, CIO and PC World. IDC provides market research, analysis and consulting to nearly 4,000 clients in over 50 countries. IDG produces more than 170 IT conferences and events on five continents, including international series of LinuxWorld Conference & Expo and Macworld Conference & Expo.
Among McGovern’s most recent awards are the 2004 Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Business Publications Editors (ASBPE) and a Top Innovator in Business Publishing Award from BtoB Media Business magazine.
Additional awards include The James Smithsonian Bicentennial Medal from the Smithsonian Institution, The Business Publisher of the Year from The Delaney Report, The Communicator of the Year from the New York Chapter of the Business and Professional Advertisers Association, The Entrepreneur of the Year from Ernst & Young and the 1999 Entrepreneurial Leadership Award from the MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge, Inc.
Among his many affiliations, McGovern has served as a director of the Information Industry Association, the Magazine Publishers Association, and the American Management Association. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. McGovern is also a trustee of MIT, the McGovern Institute at MIT and the Whitehead Institute.
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