Mr. Gartner is an entrepreneur, having founded and built three successful firms in the computer field. He first started Gartner Inc., and served as its President, CEO and Chairman from 1979 to April 1991, and Chairman until April 1992. Gartner Inc., at over $1.1 billion in revenues, is the world’s leading decision support firm in the computer, telecommunications and office industries; the company was ranked among the fastest growing private firms in the U.S. by Inc. Magazine, until it went public in 1986, whereupon it was ranked 9th and 20th among the best small companies in America by Business Week, in 1987 and 1988 respectively (and #1 in profitability in 1987). In 1990, Mr.Gartner led a leveraged buyout of the firm, currently traded on the NYSE.
Mr. Gartner also founded Soundview Technology Group, a broker-dealer providing investment advice and banking services relating to technology companies, for institutional investors. In 2000 the $150 million Soundview merged into “Wit Soundview”, and was subsequently sold to Schwab.
GiGa Information Group was founded by Mr. Gartner in 1995; he was Chairman of the Board and CEO of this innovative company which within four years became the fastest growing technology assessment and advice company in history, growing from zero to over $60 million in less than four years after product launch, with more than 1200 enterprise clients and over 400 employees worldwide. Subsequent to the stock market collapse after year 2000, GiGa was sold to Forrester Inc.
Gartner Inc., Soundview, and Giga, were all bottom-up redesigns of preceding information models, and have exercised substantial influence throughout the information industries.
Mr. Gartner was previously a partner at Oppenheimer & Company, and was rated the top individual securities analyst in the technology field (by Institutional Investor magazine) each year between the years 1972 and 1977 inclusive.
Before moving to Wall Street, he worked for IBM in Paris, Tel-Aviv and importantly in the U.S., his last position being Manager of Market Information in IBM’s critical “competitive intelligence” operation.
Mr. Gartner studied at M.I.T. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), earning his Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering (1956) and his Master of Science in Management from M.I.T.’s Sloan School (1960).
Professional activities have included extensive speaking before major organizations worldwide. In 1985, he created and taught a 2nd year course at UCLA’s Graduate School of Management (GSM), which was rated by the students as the best course taken over the entire 2-year MBA program; this was perhaps his proudest professional moment. He has also spoken at Harvard Business School, M.I.T. Sloan, Yale, University of Georgia, Arizona State, The Computer History Museum, among others.
Mr. Gartner lives in the New York area and Aspen, Colorado and, and is involved in business ventures, music activities, and entrepreneurism. He is also on the boards of the Opera Orchestra of N.Y. The Aspen Music Festival and School, is a fellow of the Aspen Institute, and serves on the National Councils of the Aspen Art Museum and the Anderson Ranch. He is also on the Library Committee of the M.I.T. Corporation and is a Sustaining Fellow Life Member of M.I.T. He is a past member of the board of the Society for Information Management where he was Special Appointee to the President.
In the 1977 joint exhibit sponsored by the ACM and Goldman Sachs in Washington D.C. and the Boston Computer Museum, documented in the book “Wizards and Their Wonders: Portraits in Computing”, Mr. Gartner was honored as one of the 19 “Communicator” stars in the IT industry.
Mr. Gartner is Married to Sarah, and is proud of children Perry, Sabrina, and Aleba, and of stepson Aaron.
Gideon Gartner
