Editing JD Edwards (section)

=== Formation ===
[[Ed McVaney]] originally trained as an [[engineer]] at the [[University of Nebraska]], and in 1964 was employed by Western Electric, then by [[KPMG|Peat Marwick]], and moved to [[Denver]], in 1968, and later became a partner at Alexander Grant where he hired Jack Thompson and Dan Gregory. Around that time he was realizing that, in his words, "The culture of a public accounting firm is the antithesis of developing software. The idea of spending time on something that you’re not getting paid for—software development—they just could not stomach that."<ref name="cwhonors2002">{{cite web|url=http://www.cwhonors.org/archives/histories/McVaney.pdf |title=C. Edward McVaney Oral History |publisher=The Computerworld Honors Program |date=December 6, 2002 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111216055839/http://www.cwhonors.org/archives/histories/McVaney.pdf |archive-date=December 16, 2011}}</ref> McVaney felt that accounting clients did not understand what was required for software development, and decided to start his own firm.

"JD Edwards" was founded in 1977 by Jack Thompson, Dan Gregory, and Ed McVaney; the company's name is drawn from the initials "J" for Jack, "D" for Dan, and "Edwards" for Ed. McVaney took a salary cut from $44,000 to $36,000 to ensure initial funding. Start-up clients included McCoy Sales, a wholesale distribution company in Denver, and Cincinnati Milacron, a maker of machine tools. The business received a $75,000 contract to develop wholesale distribution system software and a $50,000 contract with the Colorado Highway Department to develop governmental and construction cost accounting systems. The first international client was [[Shell Oil Company]]. Shell Oil implemented JD Edwards in [[Canada]] and then in [[Cameroon]]. Gregory flew to Shell Oil in [[Douala]], Cameroon to install the company's first international, multi-national, multi-currency client software system.