Jeff Skoll is a philanthropist and social entrepreneur. As founder and chairman of the Skoll Foundation, Participant Media and the Skoll Global Threats Fund, he is bringing life to his vision of a sustainable, peaceful and prosperous world.
Jeff Skoll
Jeff Skoll is a philanthropist and social entrepreneur. As founder and chairman of the Skoll Foundation, Participant Media and the Skoll Global Threats Fund, he is bringing life to his vision of a sustainable, peaceful and prosperous world.
Jeff was the first President of eBay, developing the company’s inaugural business plan and leading its successful initial public offering. He also pioneered creation of the eBay Foundation through the allocation of pre-IPO shares.
In 1999, Jeff launched the Skoll Foundation. It quickly became the world’s largest foundation for social entrepreneurship, driving large-scale change by investing in, connecting, and celebrating social entrepreneurs and other innovators dedicated to solving the world’s most pressing problems.
Its flagship program, the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, currently honours and supports 74 leading social entrepreneurs representing 61 organizations from around the world. The Skoll Foundation also co-produces with the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at the Saïd Business School at Oxford the annual Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship.
Jeff’s recent honours include Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People (2006), Wired Magazine’s Rave Award (2006), Business Week’s list of most innovative philanthropists, and, in 2009, the Producers Guild of America’s Visionary Award and Global Green USA’s Entertainment Industry Environmental Leadership Award. Jeff also holds two honorary doctorates.