Thomas Vos ('64, Electronics Engineering)

Thomas Vos

Vice President & General Manager (Retired), Hewlett-Packard

BS Electronics Engineering, Cal Poly Pomona, 1964

After graduating from high school, Thomas Vos enlisted in the U.S. Navy, encouraged by a recruiter’s promise that his first assignment would be to spend a year in electronics school. He was next assigned to a destroyer in San Diego, on which he rose to the rank of lead operations petty officer. Tom then chose to pursue an engineering career and enrolled at Cal Poly Pomona.

Tom joined Hewlett-Packard in 1966, where his projects included the 9125A single-pen flatbed plotter, a companion for the 9100 calculator that appeared in the 1971 film “The Andromeda Strain.” At Hewlett-Packard, he held positions as product development engineer, project manager, manufacturing engineering manager, research and development manager, marketing manager of the San Diego division (now the inkjet printer division). He was promoted to general manager of the Colorado Springs division, then general manager of the Electronics Instrument Group and, in 1995, vice president.

Tom retired from Hewlett-Packard in 1998.