Jim Fruchterman Bio - 04 2014

*An abbreviated bio is available below.
Jim Fruchterman
Benetech CEO
Jim Fruchterman is the founder and CEO of Benetech, a Silicon Valley nonprofit technology company that develops software applications to address unmet needs of
users in the social sector. He is the recipient of numerous awards recognizing his work
as a pioneering social entrepreneur, including the MacArthur Fellowship, Caltech’s Distinguished Alumni Award, the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, the
Outstanding Social Entrepreneur Award from the Schwab Foundation for Social
Entrepreneurship, the CASE Award for Enterprising Social Innovation, and the Migel
Medal—the highest honor in the blindness field—from the American Foundation for the
Blind. He is also a founding board member of the Social Enterprise Alliance.
A Caltech-­‐trained engineer, Jim came up with his first social enterprise idea while in
college: a machine that recognizes letters and words and uses software to read those
words aloud to people who are blind. In 1989—after a stint as a rocket scientist and
after creating two successful for-­‐profit Silicon Valley companies—he founded Benetech
to actually build reading machines for the blind. Not only did these tools give blind users
the freedom to read independently, they also proved critical to their social inclusion and
enabled them to expand their educational and employment opportunities. This impact inspired Jim to broaden Benetech’s mission to empower people to improve their lives by
leveraging scalable technological applications.
Since then, the technology-­‐for-­‐good movement has become a global phenomenon, and
Benetech’s work has grown to touch thousands of organizations and the lives of
hundreds of thousands of people. Under Jim’s leadership, Benetech’s suite of tools and
services has transformed the ways in which people with disabilities access printed
information, at-­‐risk human rights defenders safely document abuse, and environmental
practitioners succeed in their efforts to protect species and ecosystems. Today, through Benetech Labs, its innovation arm, Benetech explores new software-­‐for-­‐good ideas that have the potential to make life better for millions.
Through his work with Benetech and as a trailblazer in the field of social
entrepreneurship, Jim continues to advance his vision of a world in which the benefits of
technology reach all of humanity, not just the wealthiest and most able five percent. He
regularly blogs at beneblog.com and can be found on Twitter, @JRandomF.
Abbreviated bio (170 words)
Jim Fruchterman
Benetech CEO
Jim Fruchterman is the founder and CEO of Benetech, a Silicon Valley nonprofit technology company that develops software applications to address unmet needs of
users in the social sector. He is the recipient of numerous awards recognizing his work
as a pioneering social entrepreneur, including the MacArthur Fellowship, Caltech’s
Distinguished Alumni Award, the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, and the Migel
Medal—the highest honor in the blindness field—from the American Foundation for the
Blind.
Since its founding in 1989, Benetech has touched the lives of hundreds of thousands of
people. Its tools and services have transformed the ways in which people with
disabilities access printed information, at-­‐risk human rights defenders safely document abuse, and environmental practitioners succeed in their efforts to protect species and
ecosystems.
Through his work with Benetech and as a trailblazer in the field of social
entrepreneurship, Jim continues to advance his vision of a world in which the benefits of
technology reach all of humanity, not just the wealthiest and most able five percent.