Mary T. McDowell
For demonstrating executive leadership across the global technology industry with a track
record of commercial success through product innovation while advancing Grainger
Engineering through years of board service and philanthropic support
Former Technology CEO and Independent Corporate Director
In more than 30 years as a technology industry executive, Mary T. McDowell has led global, multinational organizations through significant business and technology transformations. With a diverse background that includes SaaS, mobile, communications and infrastructure, McDowell brings a strong history of successfully commercializing innovative technologies as well as deep international experience. She is an experienced CEO, board director, chair and committee chair.
She served as president, CEO and board director of Mitel Networks from 2019-2021, successfully navigating the $1 billion-revenue company through the pandemic and a shift in value-creation logic. Prior to that, McDowell was the CEO and board director for Polycom, Inc., a leader in enterprise communications and collaboration, where she led the company through a strategic transformation and successful sale to Plantronics in 2018.
McDowell’s earlier roles include executive partner at private equity firm Siris Capital LLC and executive vice president at Nokia, where she led the company’s $15 billion global feature phone business and associated digital services. She also held senior positions at Compaq Computer and Hewlett Packard. At Compaq, she was part of the core team that developed the industry’s first Intel-based servers and played an influential role in the planning, development and launch of industry-leading, first-to-market products that created a new industry segment and built the multi-decade ProLiant server franchise.
With prior corporate board service that includes Autodesk Inc. and the Informa Group PLC, McDowell currently serves on the boards of Arrow Electronics, Zebra Technologies and NetSpeak.
In 2011, McDowell was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award from the Department of Computer Science (now the Siebel School of Computing and Data Science). In 2022, she received the Alumni Award for Distinguished Service from The Grainger College of Engineering, and in 2025, the Krannert Award from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She has served on the Grainger Engineering Board of Visitors since 2000 and was appointed as chair of the board in 2023.
McDowell is a member of the National Association of Corporate Directors, Extraordinary Women on Boards, the New York Women’s Forum and the Committee of 200.
Degrees
- 1986, B.S., Computer Science, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign