Jonathan Coker is a champion of innovative recording technologies that improve the performance, efficiency, and areal density of hard-disk drives (HDDs). As HGST’s Chief Architect for HDDs, Coker plays a leading role in HGST’s shingled and two-dimensional recording technology efforts. Coker was educated at Wheaton College (B.A., Liberal Arts and Engineering, 1983) and at the University of Minnesota (B.S.E.E., 1984; M.S.E.E, 2006; E.E. Ph.D., 2008). Coker began his career in 1984 at IBM, where he made key contributions to the development and integration of such industry firsts as thin-film disks, magnetoresistive heads, and partial-response, maximum-likelihood data channels. During 2001-7, Coker was a supervising researcher at the Mayo Clinic, working on advanced circuit architectures and implementations for medical and defense-related applications. Coker is a frequent guest lecturer at industry gatherings and seminars. He holds about 50 patents in the areas of magnetic recording, radar devices and medical applications. Jon has written 22 journal articles or conference papers.