Chris Anderson is the curator of the TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) Conference, an influential annual conference.
Biography
Anderson, who is British, was born in Pakistan in 1957.[1] His parents were medical missionaries and he spent most of his early life in Pakistan, India and Afghanistan before going to public school in England. In 1978 he graduated from Oxford University, with a degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics.
A brief career in journalism followed, including working for a pirate radio station in the Seychelles. In 1985, with meagre personal funding (£10,000 is the official story[2]), he launched a publishing company devoted initially to hobbyist computer magazines. Future Publishing (based in Bath, UK) rapidly grew, expanding into other areas such as cycling, music, video games, technology and design. In 1994 Anderson moved to the San Francisco Bay Area and continued to launch magazines including Business 2.0, and websites such as the games web portal IGN.com. Future grew to more than 130 magazines and more than 1500 employees. It floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1999 and at its peak had a market capitalization above $2 billion.
In 2001 Anderson left Future to work full time on TED which had been acquired that year by his private not-for-profit foundation, The Sapling Foundation. He re-defined TED's mission as "ideas worth spreading" and encouraged the release of its content online to a broader, global audience. He also introduced the TED Prize, which grants three individuals annually $100,000 plus "one wish to change the world".
Anderson lives and works in New York City. He is married to Jacqueline Novogratz, the founder of Acumen Fund.
References
- ^ TED | Profile
- ^ "Corporate history". Future plc. http://www.futureplc.com/future/aboutus/history.jsp?year=1985. Retrieved 2008-03-02.
External links
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
