John B. Maydonovitch M.A. ’73, chief executive officer of San Jose-based MCE Inc., is receiving the Xavier University Founders’ Day Award for 2011. Maydonovitch is a 1970 Xavier graduate and member of the University’s Board of Trustees. He feels blessed to have had mentors throughout his academic and professional career, like his calculus professor at Xavier who encouraged him to pursue computer engineering and attend Silicon Valley-based Santa Clara University for graduate school in the early 1970s. Maydonovitch says his timing could not have been better as he got a foothold in the booming high-tech industry, spending 21 years in systems engineering and executive management positions with Hewlett-Packard Co. before following his passion to lead small high-tech companies.