Val O'Donovan

Who was Val O'Donovan?

Michael Valentine O'Donovan, CM was a Canadian businessman and Chancellor of the University of Waterloo.

Born in Cork, Ireland, he started working at Pye Telecommunications in 1959 after graduating as an electrical engineer from the Cambridge College of Technology. In 1962 he invented a new type of microwave multiplexer, and a paper he wrote describing the invention won the best paper award in the Journal of the Institution of Electronic and Radio Engineers. Soon after graduating he met Sheila and they were married in 1960.

In 1963 O'Donovan, his pregnant wife and their two infant sons immigrated to Canada where he joined RCA. By 1971, he was manager of RCA's satellite transponder department, which was responsible for designing the payloads used in the innovative Canada/United States communications technology satellite and the first domestic U.S. satellites. Drawing on his expertise, he co-authored a book titled Microwave Filters for Communications Systems. After working in the satellite division at RCA in Montreal Val, with two partners, founded COM DEV in 1972 and, under his guidance, it has become a global leader in satellite communications technology. On Halloween in 1979 COM DEV, along with 44 families, moved to Cambridge, Ontario. Under Val's leadership COM DEV continued to thrive and in 1996 became a publicly listed company. In 1998 O'Donovan retired as CEO of COM DEV but continued on as Chairman of the Board until December 2004.