Doug Bergeron

Doug Bergeron was born in 1960 in Windsor, Ontario to George and Eleanor Bergeron. He is known for his contributions to the computer science field, and most notably for growing the company VeriFone into a point-of-sales powerhouse.  Doug and his wife Sandra are also philanthropists donating millions of dollars to charities and universities in Canada and the United States. The family still contributes to charities in Canada despite now living in California.

Doug spent his childhood living in Windsor with his parents and his three siblings. He graduated from Assumption High School and became friends with fellow alumnus and former Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan. After high school, Bergeron moved to Toronto to pursue his education and eventually moved to California to complete graduate school. Despite living in California for most of his adult life, Doug continues to retain his Canadian citizenship and still prides himself on being Canadian. Doug also continues to support Multiple Sclerosis Canada and his donation of $2 Million remains the largest in the organizations history. Bergeron has stated that he aims to help MS patients in the Windsor and Essex region, where his father was a patient for 30 years as well as the President of the Windsor/ Essex chapter of Multiple Sclerosis Canada.

After high school Bergeron left Windsor for Toronto to start a job at Northern Telecom writing and maintaining computer codes and helping sales. From there he decided to go to York University, which was close to his place of work. Bergeron earned his Computer Science Degree and then moved to Ottawa to work full time for Northern Telecom. While working there he earned a full scholarship to complete his graduate studies and decided on the University of Southern California because of the warmer weather. After graduating, he would become the CEO of the largest division of SunGard Data Systems and would lead the charge to purchasing what would become VeriFone form Hewitt Packard. He has since left VeriFone and has dabbled in a number of different technology projects over the years.

Sources:

Erman, Boyd. (2014). Ousted Silicion Valley CEO preasces reinvention, advice for Canada.  Globe and Mail. Ellen van Wageningen

Van Wageningen, Ellen. (2013). Windsor native Bergeron launches new venture. Windsor Star.

Jamal, Asif. (2013). Meet Douglas and Sandra Bergeron- Founder of BEST.  York University.

Van Wageningen, Ellen. (2013). Tech entrepreneur returns to his Canadian roots. Windsor Star.

Doug Bergeron on Ouellette Avenue during a visit in 2013. Nick Brancaccio for the Windsor Star.