Joseph Rodney "Rod" Canion (born January 19, 1945) is an American computer scientist and businessman. Canion is a co-founder of Compaq Computer Corporation where he served as its first President and CEO.A native of Houston, Canion graduated from the University of Houston in 1966 and 1968 with Bachelor's and Master's degrees in electrical engineering with an emphasis on computer science. Before co-founding Compaq in 1982, Canion, Harris, and Murto had been senior managers at Texas Instruments.