Pierre Omidyar

Pierre Omidyar
Founder and Chairman, Omidyar Foundation
Founder and Chairman, eBay Inc.

When Pierre launched eBay in 1995 as a hobby, his "day job" was conducting developer relations for General Magic. Pierrešs hobby resulted in a powerful platform for the sale of goods and services by a passionate community of individuals and businesses. In the first three quarters of 2002 alone, 54.9 million eBay members transacted $10.27 billion on a local, national and international basis. Pierrešs interest in helping people connect with their communities precedes eBay and extends to his current role of philanthropist.

Most recently, Pierre worked closely with Tufts University to create the University College of Citizenship and Public Service, an initiative preparing all Tufts students—regardless of major—for an active role in building stronger communities and societies. Pierre graduated from Tufts in 1988 with a B.S. in computer science. He then joined Claris, a subsidiary of Apple Computer, as a consumer software engineer. Later, he co-founded Ink Development Corp., which was renamed eShop and acquired by Microsoft. Today, Pierre serves on the Board of Trustees for Tufts University and Santa Fe Institute in addition to chairing the Board of Directors for the Omidyar Foundation and eBay.