- Nathan Myhrvold
- Tom Paulson
My buddy Todd Bishop at Geekwire reports that Nathan Myhrvold, with support from Bill Gates, has appointed a new chief for their Global Good project.
Here’s a story Humanosphere did last fall on Myhrvold’s project entitled Patent Troll, Inventor and now Do-Gooder. Includes a podcast Q&A with Myhrvold in which we discuss the controversial polymath’s foray into philanthropy. Here’s what Todd says:
The position of “Vice President of Global Good” at Intellectual Ventures made news even before it was filled. The Bellevue company, with its massive patent holdings and controversial licensing practices, is a lightning rod in the tech industry. The very title of the job was viewed as highly dubious or at least ironic by the company’s many critics.
That resulted in a feisty response from IV chief Nathan Myhrvold, defending what he described as his aspirations to roll out life-changing technologies in the developing world, in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Asset Trust.
Maurizio Vecchione
So who got the job? It was filled by Maurizio Vecchione, a veteran entrepreneur and inventor with experience ranging from telemedicine to nanotechnology. A native of Switzerland who grew up in Italy before coming to the U.S., Vecchione has been involved in nine startups and some 50 product launches over the past three decades. He relocated from California to take the Global Good job.
Read the rest of Todd’s story at Geekwire.
