Georges Frédéric Doriot (September 24, 1899 – June 1987) was a French-American known for his prolific careers in military, academics, business and education. An émigré from France, Doriot became a professor of Industrial Management at

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 ...

and then director of the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...

's Military Planning Division, Quartermaster General, during World War II, eventually being promoted to

brigadier general Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed to ...

. In 1946, he founded

American Research and Development Corporation American Research and Development Corporation (ARDC) was a venture capital and private equity firm founded in 1946 by Georges Doriot, Ralph Flanders, Merrill Griswold, and Karl Compton. ARDC is credited with the first major venture capital ...

, regarded as one of the world's two first venture capital firms, earning him the sobriquet "father of venture capitalism". In 1957, he founded INSEAD, now one of the world's top business schools.

Biography

Youth, education and military service

Doriot was born in Paris, France in 1899, to Berthe Camille Baehler and

Auguste Doriot Auguste Frédéric Doriot (24 October 1863 – 1955) was a French motoring pioneer who developed, built and raced cars for Peugeot before founding his own manufacturing company D.F.P. in combination with Ludovic Flandrin and the Parant brothers. ...

, the pioneering motorist, racer, engineer, factory manager, dealer and car manufacturer (owner of D.F.P.). Doriot enlisted in the French army in 1920. He emigrated to America to earn an MBA and stayed on, becoming a professor at the

in 1926. He became a U.S. citizen in 1940 and the following year was commissioned a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps. As Director of the Military Planning Division for the Quartermaster General, he worked on military research, development and planning, eventually being promoted to brigadier general.

Educator

In 1930, Doriot co-founded the CPA - Centre de Perfectionnement aux Affaires - which became part of HEC Paris in 2002, then rebranded as the HEC Paris

executive MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

, de facto one of the oldest executive MBAs in the world. In 1957, Doriot founded INSEAD, the world's top global graduate

business school A business school is a university-level institution that confers degrees in business administration or management. A business school may also be referred to as school of management, management school, school of business administration, or ...

in France with a group of his former Harvard MBA students.

ARDC and the Father of Venture Capital

In 1946, Doriot returned to Harvard and the same year he founded

(ARDC), one of the first two venture capital firms along with

Ralph Flanders Ralph Edward Flanders (September 28, 1880 – February 19, 1970) was an American mechanical engineer, industrialist and politician who served as a Republican Party (United States), Republican United States Senate, U.S. Senator from the U.S. state, ...

and

Karl Compton Karl Taylor Compton (September 14, 1887 – June 22, 1954) was a prominent American physicist and president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) from 1930 to 1948. The early years (1887–1912) Karl Taylor Compton was born in ...

(former president of

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

), to encourage private sector investments in businesses run by soldiers who were returning from World War II. ARDC's significance was primarily that it was the first institutional private equity investment firm that accepted money from sources other than wealthy families although it had several notable investment successes as well.The New Kings of Capitalism, Survey on the Private Equity industry
The Economist, November 25, 2004 ARDC is credited with the first major venture capital success story when its 1957 investment of $70,000 in Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) would be valued at over $38 million after the company's initial public offering in 1968 (representing a return of over 500 times on its investment and an annualized rate of return of 101%). Until his death, Doriot remained friends with Ken Olsen, Digital's founder. ARDC continued investing until 1971 with the retirement of Doriot. In 1972, Doriot merged ARDC with

Textron Textron Inc. is an American industrial conglomerate based in Providence, Rhode Island. Textron's subsidiaries include Arctic Cat, Bell Textron, Textron Aviation (which itself includes the Beechcraft, and Cessna brands), and Lycoming Engines. ...

after investing in over 150 companies. For his role in the founding of ARDC Doriot is often referred to as the "father of venture capitalism".Kirsner, Scott.
Venture capital's grandfather
" The Boston Globe, April 6, 2008.

Death

Doriot died of lung cancer in 1987 in Boston, Massachusetts.

Legacy

The

Doriot Climatic Chambers The Doriot Climatic Chambers (DCCs) are a pair of very large, highly specialized wind tunnels/environmental chambers located at the U.S. Army’s Soldier Systems Center (SSC) in Natick, Massachusetts. Built in 1952, the Chambers are a unique fa ...

at the U.S. Army Soldier Systems Center,

Natick, Massachusetts Natick ( ) is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is near the center of the MetroWest region of Massachusetts, with a population of 37,006 at the 2020 census. west of Boston, Natick is part of the Greater Boston area. M ...

were named in his honor in 1994. (During his time in the US Army, Doriot had written and spoken about the need for an "Institute of Man" for the testing of soldiers and their equipment at environmental extremes. The DCCs are seen as a partial fulfillment of that vision.) The Doriot School of Capital was created in his name by the so-called Zeitgeist University, Geneva, Switzerland and Mexico City, Mexico Campus in 2020. with the goal of educating leaders and building companies.

Archives and records

Georges F. Doriot research papers
at Baker Library Special Collections, Harvard Business School
Georges F. Doriot American Research and Development papers
at Baker Library Special Collections, Harvard Business School
Georges F. Doriot papers
at Baker Library Special Collections, Harvard Business School