Jon Shirley

Shirley was born to Joseph and Mercedes Shirley in San Diego, California, where Joseph was stationed in the U.S. Navy. Jon Shirley attended The Hill School in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Shirley started 25-year tenure at Radio Shack as a store department manager in Boston before the company's acquisition by the Tandy Corporation in 1963. Tandy Corporation founder Charles Tandy sent Shirley to open the first Radio Shack stores in California, then later sent him to Brussels, Belgium, to open the first European stores as merchandising vice president. Shirley was also responsible for Radio Shack's computer division and as vice president of computer merchandising, he was credited with propelling the Tandy Corporation and its 7,000 Radio Shack stores into its position as the world's largest merchandiser of microcomputers.

Radio Shack was a large customer of the Microsoft Corporation and Shirley worked closely with Bill Gates, Microsoft co-founder, to create Radio Shack products utilizing Microsoft software. In 1983, Gates recruited Shirley to join Microsoft as president, chief operating officer, and director. During his tenure, Shirley ran the daily operations of the company and oversaw the construction of the Microsoft campus in Redmond, Washington. He brought to Microsoft managerial maturity and knowledge of the retail sales of computers, and helped guide the company through its initial public offering in 1986.

Shirley was credited as being the architect of Microsoft's financial and managerial infrastructure that allowed the company's financial growth in the 1980s and into the 1990s. He retired as president and chief operating officer of Microsoft in 1990 and from its board of directors in 2008. Shirley was once mentioned in press accounts for refusing to upgrade his second computer to Windows Vista after upgrading his first.

Through the Jon and Mary Shirley Foundation, Jon and his late wife, Mary, have supported not-for-profit arts, educational, and human service organizations. They spearheaded the creation of the Olympic Sculpture Park in downtown Seattle, providing the lead gift that facilitated the park's construction and funding an endowment to provide for the ongoing operations of the park. Shirley served as chairman of the board of trustees of the Seattle Art Museum and as chair of the Olympic Sculpture Park's building committee.

Collectors of modern and contemporary art, particularly the work of Alexander Calder, Jon and Mary Shirley gave Alexander Calder's Eagle to the Olympic Sculpture Park. In 2023, the Shirleys donated 48 works by Calder, valued at $200 million, to the Seattle Art Museum. Between 2016 and 2026, they contributed $10 million to the restoration of Calder's Mountains and Clouds.