John David Risher (born July 15, 1965) is an American businessman and philanthropist. He is the CEO and Co-Founder of

Worldreader Worldreader is a 501(c)(3) global nonprofit organization that provides people in the developing world with free access to a library of digital books via e-readers and mobile phones. Since 2010, over 13.3 million people across 62 countries have re ...

, a non-profit organization that aims to bring digital books to the developing world through mobile phones and e-readers. Risher served as an executive at

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

Corporation, and was Senior Vice President of US Retail at

Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational technology company focusing on e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It has been referred to as "one of the most influential economi ...

from 1997 to 2002. In November 2009, together with Colin McElwee, he founded

Early life and background

Risher was raised by his divorced parents, living primarily with his mother in Chevy Chase, Maryland. In 1987 he graduated from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

, where he majored in Comparative Literature and wrote his thesis on “The Changing Attitudes towards Language in

Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal and tragicomic expe ...

’s early Metafiction.” After graduating from college, he worked at L.E.K. Consulting, He bicycled across the United States before entering

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...

, from which he graduated in 1991 with an MBA.

Career

At Microsoft, Risher was General Manager in charge of launching the company's first database product,

Access Access may refer to: Companies and organizations * ACCESS (Australia), an Australian youth network * Access (credit card), a former credit card in the United Kingdom * Access Co., a Japanese software company * Access Healthcare, an Indian BPO se ...

. He went on to found and manage Microsoft Investor. In 1997, he left Microsoft over Bill Gates' objections to join

as its first Vice President of Product and Store development. He later served as the company's Senior Vice President, US Retail, leading the marketing and expanding into new categories to grow Amazon's retail sales from $15 million to $4 billion. As a tribute to Risher's leadership,

Jeff Bezos Jeffrey Preston Bezos ( ;; and Robinson (2010), p. 7. ''né'' Jorgensen; born January 12, 1964) is an American entrepreneur, media proprietor, investor, and commercial astronaut. He is the founder, executive chairman, and former preside ...

created a hidden perpetual
easter egg
on the Amazon website when he left the company. After leaving Amazon in 2002, Risher taught at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

’s Foster Business School, where he created the University’s course on “Competing on the Internet.” He was elected Professor of the Year in 2004. Risher co-founded

after a year-long, 19-country trip around the world with his family, road-schooling his daughters and volunteering. After visiting an orphanage in Ecuador, Risher saw how e-reader technology could give kids in remote and under-served parts of the world access to books. Worldreader is a US-based 501(c)(3) and European public charity with additional registrations in Kenya, Ghana, and India. Worldreader believes that “readers build a better world" and works with partners to bring digital reading opportunities to children in underserved communities. In March 2010, Worldreader launched a trial in Ayenyah, Ghana. Worldreader reports that, after receiving positive results, they were granted permission from Ghana's Ministry of Education to distribute e-readers to additional schools in Ghana. Since then, the organization has helped 20 million readers across more than 100 countries. Worldreader's BookSmart reading app offers children books and learning activities in six languages. Risher is

Schwab Foundation The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship is a Swiss not-for-profit organization founded in 1998 that provides platforms at the country, regional and global levels to promote social entrepreneurship.Schwab Foundation for Social Entreprene ...

Social Entrepreneur of the year, a Microsoft Alumni Foundation Integral Fellow, and

Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation Started in 2002, Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation (DRK Foundation) is a global venture philanthropy firm supporting social enterprises. History The Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Draper Richards, a venture capit ...

Social Entrepreneur. He serves on the Board of Directors of Lyft, Inc, on the International Advisory Board of

ESADE Esade (Escola Superior d'Administració i Direcció d'Empreses) is a prestigious international private educational institution based in Barcelona, Spain. Esade runs two schools of the university, Esade Business School and Esade Law School, as well ...

, and sits on the International Advisory Board of Catalunya.

Philanthropy

In May 2020, Risher and his wife, author Jennifer Risher, created the HalfMyDAF challenge, with a goal of motivating donors to increase their charitable giving from

Donor Advised Funds In the United States, a donor-advised fund (commonly called a DAF) is a charitable giving vehicle administered by a public charity created to manage charitable donations on behalf of organizations, families, or individuals. To participate in a don ...

. Within 24 hours of the challenge's launch, donors had committed over $400,000 to support non-profits; within three months, over $4.7 million had been granted, with the total reaching $8.6 million by the end of 2020, and more in subsequent years.

Recognition

* One of Silicon Valley's 25 Most Influential People * Honorary Doctorate Degree from Wilson College *Draper Richards Kaplan Social Entrepreneur * Clinton Global Initiative 2014 Invited Member * Microsoft Alumni Foundation Integral Fellow 2011 * Publishers Weekly's “Eleven for the Millennium * Schwab Foundation's Social Entrepreneur of the Year 2016

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Risher, David 1965 births Living people Princeton University alumni Harvard Business School alumni University of Washington faculty Microsoft employees