Girls In Tech

Last Thursday I was lucky enough to attend SDForum’s 12th Annual Visionary Awards in Atherton and I have never been in a crowd of such distinguished people. Between past years award recipients, top tier press and this years winners, it was a group of people who have molded and shaped our world as we know it.

For the first time ever, this years Visionary recipients included two Girls in Tech, Judith L. Estrin, CEO, JLabs LLC, and Kay Koplovitz, Founder of USA Network, as well as James H. Clark, Co-Founder, Silicon Graphics and Netscape and Vinod Khosla, Co-Founder of Sun Microsystems.

It was such a privilege to sit and listen to the speeches and stories these four phenomenal individuals shared with the audience. Kay’s story was about the first live satellite television broadcast, the “Rumble in the Jungle,” George Foreman versus former world champion and challenger Muhammad Ali. Vinod reflected on being called a ‘visionary’ and saying he believed what is recognized as “vision” is “bumbling around long enough” to finally get something right. Jim gave us all a good chuckle when he said his first ‘vision’ was getting out of Plainview, Texas, which lead him into the Navy and then his “next visionary step was getting out the Navy.” Judy did a wonderful job of bringing us all back to college by recalling how she was “not completely sober” when she first discussed Ethernet with Bob Metcalfe.

Included is an excerpt of Judy Estrin’s acceptance speech captured by Tom Foremski:

Judy Estrin at SDForum's Visionaries

2009 award winners included:

Judith L. Estrin, CEO, JLabs LLC
Judy Estrin is a networking technology pioneer and Silicon Valley leader. Since 1981, she has co-founded seven technology companies and served as the CTO of Cisco Systems. Estrin is also the author of Closing the Innovation Gap, published in September, 2008. Currently as CEO of JLabs, LLC, she is an advisor and speaker in the areas of entrepreneurship, leadership and innovation. She serves on the boards of directors of The Walt Disney Company and The FedEx Corporation, as well as two venture backed startup companies – Packet Design, Inc and Arch Rock, Inc. Estrin is also a member of the technical advisory boards of Stanford’s school of engineering and Bio-X initiative and the University of California president’s Science and Innovation advisory board.  She holds a B.S. degree in math and computer science from UCLA, and an M.S. in electrical engineering from Stanford University.

Kay Koplovitz, Founder of USA Network
Kay Koplovitz is currently a principal of Koplovitz & Co. LLC., a media investment firm and is the founder of USA Network, the first basic cable network delivered via satellite nationwide.. Koplovitz was the first woman to head a television network when she founded USANetworks under the banner of Madison Square Garden Sports in 1977. As a visionary of what sports television would become, Koplovitz launched major professional and collegiate sports on cable television by negotiating the first contracts and creating first cable coverage for Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, the National Hockey League, the Master’s from Augusta Georgia, the US Tennis Open and a collection of NCAA conference sporting events. She led USA Networks to first place in cable primetime ratings and it remained there for 14 years. In 1992, she launched the Sci-Fi Channel, which has become a top ten rated cable network known for innovative drama and mini-series. In 1994, she launched USA Networks International into 60 countries worldwide. Among her recent accomplishments, Ms. Koplovitz co-created Springboard Enterprises, a national organization that fosters venture capital investments in women-led high growth companies.  Since its inception, Springboard has presented over 380 companies that have raised $4.4 billion in new capital. She also co-founded Boldcap Ventures, a venture capital fund backed exclusively by leading women executives.  Ms. Koplovitz is Chairman of the Board of Liz Claiborne, Inc. and a board member of CA.

James H. Clark, Co-Founder, Silicon Graphics and Netscape
Jim Clark is a prolific entrepreneur and former computer scientist. He founded several notable Silicon Valley technology companies, including Silicon Graphics, Inc., Netscape Communications Corporation, Shutterfly, myCFO and Healtheon. Clark earned his Bachelor’s degree and a Master’s degree in physics at Louisiana State University. He then went on to get his PhD in Computer Science from the University of Utah and has served as an assistant professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz as well as an associate professor of electrical engineering at Stanford University.

Vinod Khosla, Co-Founder of Sun Microsystems
Vinod Khosla is a co-founder of Sun Microsystems and then for decades has helped other entrepreneurs build their own businesses.  Vinod joined venture capital firm Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers and helped shape successes including Cerent, Excite and Juniper.  In 2004, he formed Khosla Ventures, focusing on both traditional technology and clean technology ventures.  Vinod is also one of the founders of TiE, The Indus Entrepreneurs, and has guest-edited a special issue of Economic Times, a leading business newspaper in India.  He received his Bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering from the IIT Delhi, India, a Master’s Degree in Biomedical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University, and a Master’s in Business Administration from Stanford Graduate School of Business.