Mitchell Kapor
Mitchell Kapor is a pioneer of modern computing. He is the founder and former CEO of Lotus Development Corporation and the designer of Lotus 1-2-3, the “killer application” which made the personal computer ubiquitous in the business world in the 1980s. In the past 30 years he created or helped create dozens of startup companies and organizations, including UUNET, a first-generation Internet Service Provider; The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which protects freedom and privacy on the Internet; Real Networks, the originator of streaming media on the Internet; the Mozilla Foundation*, creator of the open source web browser Firefox; Linden Research*, the creator of the first successful virtual world, Second Life, and Xmarks*, formerly Foxmarks, the leader in bookmark synchronization, and ePals*, the Internet’s largest global community of connected classrooms. Currently he also serves on several non-profit boards, including the Mitchell Kapor Foundation, which works to ensure fairness and equity for low-income communities of color in the areas of civic engagement, sustainability, and college access; the Level Playing Field Institute, whose mission is to enhance equal opportunity in education and the workplace; and One Web Day, Earth Day for the Internet. Through Kapor Capital, he is an active investor in seed stage startup companies.