INNOVATORS | AOL
AOL FAMILY TREE THEN AND NOW
ON MAY 25, 1985, three men founded an online services company called Quantum Computer Services from the remnants of Control Video Corporation. Co-founder Jim Kimsey became involved after taking a fortuitous rafting trip with his fellow West Point grad Frank Caufield, co-founder of the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, who encouraged Kimsey to get involved with a struggling company he was serving on the board of, which turned out to be Control Video Corporation. Today, we refer to it as America Online, or AOL. “When we started the company only three percent of people were online, and they were only online an hour a week... it took more than a decade before we got traction,” says co-founder Steve Case. Now, on the other side of the digital revolution hill, AOL owns and operates some of the largest and most influential brands on the internet, including AOL.com, The Huffington Post, TechCrunch, Adap.tv and Advertising.com. Washington Life tracked down the original key players to discover their last known title with AOL (before the merger with Time Warner in January 2001) and what they are doing now, as many of the people who came from AOL have been reshaping so many aspects of our world, from business to philanthropy, sports, the arts and education. the founders
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JIM KIMSEY - Founder/CEO
MARC SERIFF - CTO
STEVE CASE* - CEO
Chairman, The Kimsey Foundation
Retired
Chairman/CEO Revolution Growth
The late 80s
JEAN CASE VP, Corporate Communications CEO, The Case Foundation
LEN LEADER* CFO Chairman, The Israel Project
KATHERINE BORSECNIK* SVP President, Ebb Point Foundation
KEN HUNTSMAN* - AOL Fellow Board Member, Wesley Theological Seminary/ Community Foundation of Northern Virginia/United Methodist Family Services SV M
The 90s: left pre-merger
MIKE CONNORS PRESIDENT AOL TECHNOLOGIES Director, Zhone
KATHY RYAN SVP Retired
DAVID COLE GROUP PRESIDENT OF NEW ENTERPRISES GROUP Strategic Advisor, Solazyme Inc.
MARK WALSH SVP Chairman/CEO, GeniusRocket
* Continued on at AOL after the merger with Time Warner
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WA S H I N G T O N L I F E
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O R W I K I M E D I A CO M MO N S
JACK DAVIES - PRESIDENT AOL INTERNATIONAL Board Member, Teach for America, Economic Club of Washington, Mobile Posse, Maya Angelou Public Charter School, Scholastic, VPP