Tom Chavez is a hi-tech entrepreneur, author and co-founder of super, a startup studio that builds and funds software companies.

Early life and education

Chavez was born and raised in

Albuquerque, New Mexico Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding in ...

. He is one of five children from a working-class family of Spanish and Mexican descent, and his paternal side traces its roots back to one of the original settlers of Santa Fe, Don Pedro Duran y Chavez. Chavez graduated from

Albuquerque Academy Albuquerque Academy is an independent, co-educational day school for grades 6-12 located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States. It is accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Southwest

in 1986. He earned a B.A. in 1990 in computer science and philosophy magna cum laude from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

and a Ph.D. in engineering-economic systems and operations research from

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

, where he was a

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

doctoral fellow.

Career

Before starting Rapt, he worked for

Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Sun for short) was an American technology company that sold computers, computer components, software, and information technology services and created the Java programming language, the Solaris operating system, ZFS, the ...

and at a

think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...

called Rockwell. Chavez launched his first

startup A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship refers to all new businesses, including self-employment and businesses that never intend t ...

, Rapt, a company that creates software for Web publishers, in 1998. As CEO and co-founder, Chavez led the company for 10 years until its acquisition by

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 ...

for $180 million in 2008. In 2010, Chavez launched his second venture, Krux, which scanned devices for information. The analytics company was bought by Salesforce in 2016. In 2018, Chavez launched

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

-based venture studio super which forms software startups and supports them from its own venture capital fund. As of 2019, companies led by Chavez have generated a 17.5x return for investors.

Writing

Chavez is the co-author of ''Data Driven: Harnessing Data and AI to Reinvent Customer Engagement'', and winner of the 2019 Axiom Business Book Award Silver Medalist in Business Technology.

Philanthropy

Chavez co-founded the Chavez Family Foundation. The Foundation invests in non-profit projects in education, immigration, and entrepreneurship. Organizations they support include Immigrants Rising, Mission Asset Fund, and Immigrant Legal Resource Center. The Chavez Family Foundation was a founding investor in the California Campus Catalyst Fund, an initiative that works to expand support to undocumented students and their families across the state's three public higher education systems: California Community Colleges, California State University, and

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

. Chavez sits on the non-profit boards of

KQED KQED may refer to: * KQED (TV), a PBS member station in San Francisco * KQED-FM KQED-FM (88.5 MHz) is a NPR-member radio station in San Francisco, California. Its parent organization is KQED Inc., which also owns its television partners, both ...

(public media for the

Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Gov ...

) and

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism of Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network based in New York City and owned by Paramount Global. It was created by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, at the time a division of Warner Commun ...

's Save the Music Foundation.

References

{{reflist Businesspeople from Albuquerque, New Mexico Chief executive officers Stanford University alumni Harvard College alumni