Center History

The Thomas Walter Center for Technology Management at Auburn University is a joint effort of the colleges of business and engineering at Auburn University.

John Thomas Walter received a degree in engineering physics from Auburn University in 1955 and has become one if its most accomplished graduates. After graduation, Walter served aboard an Atlantic Fleet destroyer and with the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project. During his destroyer tour, he met Ross Perot. In 1962, Perot founded a computer service company, Electronic Data Systems, and asked Walter to join him. Twenty years later, General Motors purchased EDS for $2.5 billion. In later years, Walter was a consultant to Perot Investments, and in 1989, as an honor to his friend, Perot granted $2.6 million to Auburn University to build the Thomas Walter Center for Technology Management, home of the National Consortium for Technology in Business.

Walter, a Selma, Alabama native, is an esteemed member of the Auburn University Foundation, where his extensive experience is valued on the investment committee. Walter is also a force in civic life in his adopted state of Texas where he has served on the boards of Zale Lipshy University Hospital, Southwestern Medical Foundation, the Salvation Army and the Perot Foundation.

Research and curriculum development activities of the Thomas Walter Center are made possible by endowments, gifts, Auburn University funds, and other sponsors including the National Science Foundation (USA). The Center works in collaboration with like-minded universities; the joint US-Europe Technology Adoption Project (USETAP) between the Center and University of Plymouth is an example.