Paul Sagan

Paul Sagan (born 1959) is an American businessman and managing partner at General Catalyst Partners.[1] A three-time Emmy award winner for broadcast journalism in New York,[2] Sagan began his career at WCBS-TV as a news writer and news director.[3] Joining Time Warner to design and launch NY1, in 1995 he was named president and editor of new media at Time Inc.[4] Sagan joined Akamai Technologies in 1998,[5] becoming CEO in 2005.[5] In 2014, he became a venture capitalist at General Catalyst Partners.[1] He became chairman of the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education in 2015.[6]

Paul Sagan
Born1959 (age 63–64)
NationalityAmerican
Alma materNorthwestern University
OccupationBusiness executive
EmployerGeneral Catalyst

Career

Media and news

Upon graduating from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, Sagan began his career at WCBS-TV as a news writer. He was named news director in 1987.[3]

In 1991, he joined Time Warner to design and launch NY1. In 1995 he was named president and editor of new media at Time Inc.,[4] a position he held until 1997.

From 1997 to 1998 Sagan served as senior adviser to the World Economic Forum.

Akamai

Sagan joined Akamai Technologies in October 1998 as chief operating officer, became president the following year[5] in 1999.[1]

He was elected to the Akamai board of directors in January 2005,[5] and would serve as the executive vice chairman of Akamai Technologies.[7]

He became CEO in April 2005.[5] During his tenure, he oversaw a number of acquisitions.[1] He was succeeded as Akamai CEO by Akamai co-founder Tom Leighton on January 1, 2013.[8]

General Catalyst

In January 2014, he became a venture capitalist at General Catalyst Partners in Cambridge, Massachusetts.[1] He became a partner at the firm.[1][9] He kept his role as vice chairman of Akamai's board.[9][10]

Moderna

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Sagan served as Senior Advisor and Executive-in-Residence at Moderna as a member of the Board of directors working on vaccines.[11]

Boards

He is a member of the board of directors of Akamai,[7] VMware, Inc., and the not-for-profit ProPublica,[12] of which he named chairman in December 2016.[13] He is also a trustee of his alma mater, Northwestern University.[12]

Previously, he was a member of the board of directors of Datto Inc.,[14] Dow Jones & Company,[15] Digitas,[16] EMC Corporation,[17] L2, Inc.,[17] Maven Networks,[18] OpenMarket,[19] FutureTense, Inc.,[20] and VDONet Corp.[21] before each company was sold. He also served for a period of time on the boards of Experience, Inc.[22] iRobot Corp. and Medialink Worldwide, Inc.[23] He resigned from the iRobot board in June 2015.[24]

Committees and public positions

Sagan was appointed by President Barack Obama to the President's National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee in 2010 and served until 2017.[25]

Governor Charlie Baker appointed Sagan to be chairman of the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education in 2015.[6] In 2017, there was a controversy when a state investigation found that he had donated $500,000 to the nonprofit Families for Excellent Schools, a charter school advocacy group that had been fined for hiding donors' identities in 2016, and which had been involved in a ballot question the year before. Sagan defended his decision to keep the donation private.[26][27][28] The Massachusetts Teachers Association and some others called for Sagan to be fired from his chairmanship for the donation, but the Governor had defended Sagan.[29][30] As of 2018, Sagan remained chair of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.[31]

Honors

He is a three-time Emmy award winner for broadcast journalism in New York.[2] He became a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2008.[32] In 2009 Sagan was named the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award in the technology category.[33] In 2008 he was named as a member of the Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy.[34]

References
  1. Farrell, Michael (30 January 2014). "Ex-Akamai CEO joins venture firm". Boston Globe. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
  2. "NY Emmy Awards Winners: 31st, 34th and 35th". National Academy of Arts & Sciences New York. 1989–1991 [1986–1987]. Archived from the original on 2007-10-13.
  3. Laurie Bennett (December 31, 2010). "Paul Sagan an exemplar of media transformation". Muckety. Archived from the original on 17 June 2013. Retrieved 6 July 2012. He began his career as a writer at WCBS-TV in New York.
  4. Mike Allen (16 September 1996). "Seeing Ad Dollars, C-Net Multiplies Web Sites". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 July 2012. Paul Sagan, president and editor of new media at Time Inc...
  5. Hines, Matt (April 4, 2005). "Paul Sagan Named Akamai Chief". CNET. Retrieved 6 July 2012.
  6. Guyton, Elizabeth. "Governor Baker Appoints Paul Sagan to Chair Board of Elementary and Secondary Education". Mass.Gov. Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  7. "Akamai Board of Directors". Retrieved 18 January 2013.
  8. "Akamai Announces CEO Succession". December 17, 2012. Archived from the original on February 22, 2014.
  9. William Alden (January 30, 2014), "Former Chief of Akamai Joins General Catalyst as Partner", The New York Times
  10. General Catalyst website retrieved June 6, 2018
  11. "Board of Directors". Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  12. "Nine civic, business leaders named to Board of Trustees" (article). Observer. November 3, 2005. Retrieved 11 July 2012.
  13. Cynthia Gordy (December 27, 2016), ProPublica Announces Paul Sagan as New Board Chairman, ProPublica, retrieved March 13, 2018
  14. Datto Finalizes Acquisition by Vista Equity Partners and Merger with Autotask, Datto.com, December 11, 2017
  15. Kaplan, David (February 22, 2007). "Industry Moves: McPherson To Chair Dow Jones' Board Of Directors; Brock, Sagan Named To Board". paidContent. Retrieved 6 July 2012.
  16. "Digitas, Inc. Appoints Microsoft and Akamai Executives to Board of Directors" (press release). July 25, 2006. Retrieved 11 July 2012.
  17. "Blog for 12in.com".
  18. "Maven Networks Names Akamai President & CEO Paul Sagan to Its Board of Directors" (press release). Marketwire. September 12, 2005. Retrieved 11 July 2012.
  19. "Open Market Names Three New Board Members" (press release). PRNewswire. November 8, 1999. Retrieved 11 July 2012.
  20. "FutureTense Adds Online Industry Pioneer to Board of Directors; Paul Sagan Named as New Board Member" (press release). Businesswire. December 2, 1998. Retrieved 11 July 2012.
  21. "Election of Directors" (14A SEC Filing). EdgarOnline. July 15, 1997. Retrieved 11 July 2012.
  22. "Experience, Inc. Appoints Akamai's Paul Sagan and TechTarget's Greg Strakosch to its Board of Directors". Spirit Enterprise. April 23, 2003. Archived from the original (press release) on February 2, 2013. Retrieved 11 July 2012.
  23. "Sagan Joins Medialink Board" (article). AdAge. February 26, 1997. Retrieved 11 July 2012.
  24. David L. Harris (June 15, 2015), "Paul Sagan just resigned from the board of this Mass. tech company", Boston Business Journal
  25. "President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts, 12/8/10" (Press Release). whitehouse.gov. 8 December 2010. Retrieved 6 July 2012 – via National Archives.
  26. Hayley Glatter (September 27, 2017), "Massachusetts Education Board Leader Defends Pro-Charter Donations", Boston Magazine, retrieved March 13, 2018
  27. "School Official Hit Over Donations to Charter School Advocacy Group", Boston Globe, September 20, 2017, retrieved March 13, 2018
  28. Steve LeBlanc (September 26, 2017), "School Board Chair Defends $500,000 Ballot Question Donation", U.S. News, retrieved March 13, 2018
  29. Kathleen McKiernan (September 20, 2017), "Teacher unions want charter supporter axed", Boston Herald, Boston Herald, retrieved March 13, 2018
  30. 'It's a nothingburger,' Gov. Charlie Baker says when asked about education board chair's $100K to charter schools group, Mass Live, Sept. 12, 2016
  31. Gintautas Dumcius (January 16, 2018), Here are the three finalists for Massachusetts commissioner of elementary and secondary education, Masslive, retrieved March 13, 2018
  32. "Academy Inducts 230th Class of Members" (PDF). Bulletin of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Winter 2011. p. 6. Retrieved 6 July 2012.
  33. "Entrepreneur Of The Year 2009: Road to Palm Springs". Ernst & Young (Press Release). 2009. Archived from the original on 22 January 2013. Retrieved 6 July 2012.
  34. "Knight Commission Announces Full Membership; Gears Up for Initial Meeting" (press release). June 12, 2008. Retrieved 10 July 2012.
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