Biography

Terry McGann's career in parking began the way many great careers do — unexpectedly. At twenty-one years old, he walked into an office one day to find the teletype machine clicking with a message: the company was bankrupt. While his boss was on the phone insisting it must be a mistake, two men walked in and quietly dismantled the machine. And so began Terry's journey.

In 1964, as a newlywed with an infant son at home, he talked his way into a job selling time clocks — and when the company expanded into parking equipment, Terry split off that line into his own business. He was just getting started.

In 1987, when most in the industry dismissed the idea that commodity PCs could handle the complexity of parking access and revenue control, Terry disagreed. He built McGann Software Systems and proved the skeptics wrong. By the early 2000s, it had become the dominant supplier of parking management software in the United States.

He was known as much for how he led as for what he built. When the company had a great year, he shared the profits generously — reportedly arriving to hand out bonus checks dressed as Santa Claus. The people who worked for him never forgot it.

In 2007, he sold McGann Software Systems to Amano, forming Amano McGann — a name still known throughout the industry today.

Terry McGann passed away before this moment, but his legacy lives on in every parking management system that followed his vision.

Please welcome Terry McGann into the Parking Hall of Fame.