Founders
Paul G. Allen, Co-Founder
Investor and philanthropist Paul G. Allen creates and advances world-class projects and high-impact initiatives that change and improve the way people live, learn, work and experience the world through arts, education, entertainment, sports, business and technology.
He co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates in 1975, remained the company's chief technologist until he left Microsoft in 1983, and is the founder and chairman of Vulcan Inc. and chairman of Charter Communications. In addition, Allen's multibillion dollar investment portfolio includes large stakes in Digeo, Plains All American, real estate holdings and technology, media and content companies.
In 2004 Allen funded SpaceShipOne, the first privately-funded effort to successfully put a civilian in suborbital space and winner of the Ansari X-Prize competition. Allen also owns the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League, the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association, and is part of the primary ownership group for the Seattle Sounders FC, Seattle’s new Major League Soccer team.
With lifetime giving totaling nearly $1 billion, Allen has been named one of the top philanthropists in America. Allen gives back to the community through the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, whose goal is to transform individual lives and strengthen communities by supporting arts and culture, youth engagement, community development and social change, and scientific and technological innovation throughout the Pacific Northwest. In 2003, Allen announced a commitment of $100 million in seed money dedicated to brain research and unveiled the creation of the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle. In 2006 the Allen Institute completed its inaugural project, the Allen Mouse Brain Atlas. The Atlas is a web-based, 3D map of gene expression in the mouse brain which is free and available online. Detailing more than 20,000 genes at the cellular level, the atlas continues to help lead scientists to new insights and propel the field of neuroscience forward dramatically.
Allen is also founder of Experience Music Project, Seattle's critically acclaimed interactive music museum; the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame; The Flying Heritage Collection, based in Everett, Wash., an assembly of rare World War II aircraft restored to flying condition; and Vulcan Productions, the independent film production company behind the award-winning feature Hard Candy, Where God Left His Shoes, the Evolution series on PBS, Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial, The Blues, executive produced by Martin Scorsese in conjunction with Paul Allen and Jody Allen, and the six-part series, Rx for Survival — A Global Health Challenge.
Learn more about Allen online at www.paulallen.com.
Jody Allen, Co-Founder, President, Chairman of the Board
Jody Allen is president and CEO of Vulcan Inc., the project and investment management firm she co-founded with investor and philanthropist Paul G. Allen in 1986. Since then, she has developed and led a wide range of Allen's business and charitable endeavors around the world.
Allen's responsibilities also include serving as president of Vulcan Productions, the film production company behind such acclaimed projects as Hard Candy; Far From Heaven, the Emmy award-winning PBS series Rx for Survival: A Global Health Challenge; the Evolution PBS series, The Blues, executive-produced by Martin Scorsese in conjunction with Allen and Paul Allen; and the Peabody award-winning Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial.
Allen is executive director of the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, which builds strong communities and supports vulnerable populations around the Pacific Northwest by funding programs in the arts, community development and social change, youth engagement, and innovation in science and technology. In addition, Allen is executive director of Seattle’s Experience Music Project, the critically-acclaimed music museum, and the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame. She serves as vice-chair of First & Goal Inc.
An active member of the arts and education communities, Allen currently serves on the boards of ArtsFund, Experience Music Project, the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame, the Allen Institute for Brain Science, Seattle Seahawks Charitable Foundation, and Charter Communications. Allen previously served on the boards of the Theatre Communications Group, the University of Washington Foundation, the Museum of Glass, the Los Angeles International Film Festival and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.