Robin Chase

Robin Chase is an American transportation entrepreneur. She is co-founder and former CEO of Zipcar.[1] She is also the founder and former CEO of Buzzcar, a peer-to-peer car-sharing service, acquired by Drivy.[2] She also started the defunct GoLoco.org,[3] a vehicle for hire company. She is co-founder and executive chairman of Veniam, a vehicle network communications company. She authored the book, Peers Inc: How People and Platforms are Inventing the Collaborative Economy and Reinventing Capitalism.

Robin Chase
Chase in 2008
NationalityAmerican
Alma materWellesley College
MIT Sloan School of Management
Harvard Graduate School of Design
OccupationBusinesswoman
Known forCo-founding Zipcar
SpouseRoy Russell
ChildrenCameron Russell

Early life

The daughter of a US diplomat,[4] Chase spent her childhood moving around the Middle East and Africa. She graduated from Waterford Kamhlaba United World College of Southern Africa, Wellesley College (B.A.), the MIT Sloan School of Management (M.B.A.), and won a Loeb Fellowship at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.[5]

Career

In 2000, Chase co-founded Zipcar with Antje Danielson.[6] In January 2001, Chase fired Danielson after she petitioned Zipcar's board for the ability to make hiring and firing decisions without consulting them.[6] In February 2003, after difficulties in securing additional rounds of funding, Chase was replaced as CEO by the Zipcar board with Scott Griffith.[6]

In addition to Veniam, Chase is currently a board member for the World Resources Institute,[7][8] and chairperson of the board for the Nasdaq and TSE listed Tucows Inc.[9]

Formerly, she served on the board of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation,[10] was a member of the World Economic Forum's Transportation Council, a member of the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship,[11] the US Department of Transportation Intelligent Transportation Systems Program Advisory Committee,[12] the Boston Mayor's Wireless Task Force,[13] and Governor Deval Patrick's Transportation Transition Team.

She has appeared in national media such as the Today Show, The New York Times, National Public Radio, Wired, Newsweek and Time magazines, and has been mentioned in several books on entrepreneurship.

Chase is a proponent for the creation of a mesh network[14] so that end-user devices can create a shared wireless network. She is a proponent of expanding internet access, and participated in the InternetforEveryone kick-off event.

Awards

Chase has won several awards. She was listed as one of Time's 100 Most Influential People in 2009,[15] received the Massachusetts Governor's Award for Entrepreneurial Spirit, Start-up Woman of the Year, Business Week’s top 10 designers, Fast Company's Fast 50 Champions of Innovation, technology and innovation awards from Fortune, CIO, and InfoWorld magazines, and numerous environmental awards from national, state and local governments and organizations.

References
  1. "The MIT 150: 150 Ideas, Inventions, and Innovators that Helped Shape Our World". The Boston Globe. May 15, 2011. Retrieved August 8, 2011.
  2. "Community-Based Car Rental Service Drivy Grabs Another $8.6 Million, Acquires Buzzcar". 2 April 2015.
  3. "Going Your Way". Newsweek. 4 April 2007.
  4. Huffington Post, "A Revolutionary Entrepreneur On Happiness, Money, And Raising A Supermodel", author, Nico Pitney, article date Jan 30, 2015 updated Dec 6, 2017, url https://www.huffpost.com/entry/robin-chase-life-lessons_n_6566944/amp
  5. Harvard Gazette: Zipcar creator looks toward bigger challenges, by Ken Gewertz, Harvard News Office, October 21, 2004.
  6. Duhaime-Ross, Arielle (April 1, 2014). "Driven: how Zipcar's founders built and lost a car-sharing empire". Retrieved Oct 6, 2023.
  7. World Resources Institute Biosketch of Robin Chase. Accessed March 27, 2012.
  8. Bloomberg President, Zipcar Founder Named Directors at World Resources Institute
  9. "Board of Directors | Tucows Inc". www.tucows.com. Archived from the original on 2013-10-25.
  10. http://www.massdot.state.ma.us/main/tabid/1085/ctl/detail/mid/2937/itemid/512/Governor-Patrick-Appoints-Robin-Chase-to-MassDOT-Board-of-Directors.aspx
  11. National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship members
  12. DOT ITS Advisory Committee members
  13. Boston Mayor's Wireless Task Force membership
  14. Schiller, Lauren (March 18, 2016). "The Woman Who Co-founded Zipcar Is Now Building 'an Internet of Moving Things'". Fortune. Retrieved 7 October 2023.
  15. Craig Newmark (April 30, 2009). "The 2009 TIME 100: Robin Chase". Time Magazine. Archived from the original on May 3, 2009. Retrieved May 30, 2010.
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