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Evan Williams co-founded Pyra Labs in 1999 and led the team that created Blogger, a major player in helping pioneer the blogging phenomenon. In early 2003, Williams sold Pyra Labs to Google, where he led the Blogger group until October 2004. Prior to Pyra, in 1994, Williams started an early internet company in Nebraska, his native state, and later worked for O'Reilly Media, Intel, and HP as a web application developer. He now resides in San Francisco and is co-founding a new startup, Odeo, which is helping democratize media in new ways.
Evan Williams, Co-founder and CEO of Odeo, discusses his views on the opportunities and challenges in the quickly emerging technology of Podcasting.
Ken Wilcox is president and CEO of SVB Financial Group. Since January 2000, when he took on the role, Wilcox has successfully pursued a strategy of expansion and diversification, while remaining focused on the company's core niches of technology, life sciences, private equity and premium wineries. Wilcox joined Silicon Valley Bank in 1990 when he co-founded the company's East Coast Technology Division. In this role, Wilcox managed the first regional office of Silicon Valley Bank and was responsible for all lending activity east of the Mississippi River. Upon promotion to chief banking officer in 1997, Wilcox moved from Massachusetts to California and became president and CEO within four years. Prior to joining Silicon Valley Bank, Wilcox spent two years as a member of the Technology Lending Group with the Bank of New England and five years at Shawmut Bank in Boston. Prior to his banking career, Wilcox was a professor of German at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Wilcox received a bachelor's degree in German studies from Oakland University and a Ph.D. in German Studies from The Ohio State University. He also earned a master's of business administration from Harvard Business School. Wilcox is a member of the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and the Silicon Valley Leadership Group.
For Tom Wiggans, starting a successful pharmaceutical company wasn't enough; he has also worked tirelessly to support the biotechnology industry as a whole.
Herb White's skill at evaluating new businesses and products has helped many companies. Most of his advice is donated, because he enjoys helping and hates seeing good ideas stuck on a shelf.
Steve Westly is the Founder and a Managing Partner of the Westly Group. He formerly served as the Controller and Chief Fiscal Officer of the state of California - the world's sixth largest economy. As Controller, he chaired the State Lands Commission and served on 63 other boards and commissions, including CalPERS and CalSTRS, the nation's two largest public pension funds, which together invest more than $350 billion. During his four-year term, Westly spearheaded innovative tax programs that helped close the State's budget deficit and also led an effort to commit more than $1 billion to clean technology investments. Before running for office, Westly helped guide the online auction company eBay through its period of most rapid growth, serving as the Senior Vice President of Marketing, Business Development, M&A and International. Westly helped bring eBay to Europe and Asia and developed the marketing and acquisition strategies that paved the path for the firm's exponential growth. He began his career in Washington, D.C., first working on Capitol Hill and later in the Office of Conservation and Solar at the U.S. Department of Energy. Westly returned to California to become special assistant to the President of the California Public Utilities Commission. While there, he published two books on alternative energy and the utilities. He?s also held senior positions at Sprint Communications, Netcom, and WhoWhere?. Westly holds a bachelor's degree from Stanford University and an MBA from Stanford's Graduate School of Business, where he served on the faculty for five years. He and his wife, Anita, run the Westly Foundation, which provides education and health care services for children and underserved communities throughout California.
Steve Westly, Founder of clean tech investment firm The Westly Group and former Controller for the state of California, paints a landscape of the present and future opportunities in emerging alternative energy.
Health IT, innovation and business models are some of the topics addressed in this Q&A session with Richard Foster, a new partner at venture capital firm Lux Capital. Read more for his views on the future of health IT and his advice for new entrepreneurs.
BP has received almost 35,000 ideas in just over a month on how best to clean up the millions of gallons of oil from the biggest spill in U.S. history. So far, only four hace made it into testing.
Entrepreneurs can benefit from seeking to be paired for a fee with a mentor who provides guidance and support, says the author, who pursued such a formal mentorship upon the founding of her second venture. With new skills to learn in an operating company as opposed to her previous professional-services concern, this entrepreneur reports developing company-building tactics as well as respect for mentoring itself.
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