L. John Doerr is an American investor and venture capitalist at Kleiner Perkins in Menlo Park, California. In February 2009, Doerr was appointed a member of the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board to provide the President and his administration with advice and counsel in trying to fix America's economic downturn. In 2017, related to Forbes, he was recognized the 40th Richest In Tech., Forbes ranked Doerr as the 105th richest person in the United States and the 303rd richest person in the world, with a net worth of US$ 7.5 billion as of February 16, 2018. Doerr is the author of Measure What Matters, a book about goal-setting. For 2019, his net worth increased up to $7.7 billion, being the 215th in the Billionaires 2019 list and the 56th in The Midas List: Top Tech Investors 2019.
Doerr co-founded and serves on the board of the New Schools Venture Fund, an education reform and charter public schools fund, and TechNet, a policy network of high-tech CEOs advocating education and litigation reform, and policies for the innovation economy. Doerr co-chaired California's Proposition 39 which lowered the threshold to approved school bonds, and Proposition 71 which created $3 billion in funding for California research into stem cell therapies. He serves on the board of Bono's ONE campaign to fight global poverty, particularly disease in Africa. His success in venture capital has garnered national attention; he has been listed on Forbes magazine's exclusive "Midas List" and is widely regarded as one of the top technology venture capitalists in the world. Doerr advocates innovation in clean energy technologies to combat climate change, and has written and testified on the topic. In a 2007 TED conference, he cited his daughter's remark, "your generation created this problem, you better fix it", as a call to fight global warming. In 2008 he announced with Steve Jobs the Kleiner Perkins $100 million iFund, declaring the iPhone "more important than the personal computer" because "it knows who you are" and "where you are." In April 2010, he along with other iFund members announced an increase in iFund's value by another $100 million, making iFund the world's biggest investment pool in the cell phone application industry. He currently serves on the boards of Google, Amyris Biotech, Tradesy and Zynga. Doerr led Kleiner Perkins's $150 million investment in Twitter in 2012. In 2013 he invested in DreamBox which has been acquired by Charter School Growth Fund. He had also funded the initial investments in Bloom Energy Inc. Doerr is a major backer of the education company, Remind. Doerr mentored Ellen Pao when she first joined Kleiner Perkins. Before changing his mind in 2012, he was known for challenging those who gave her negative performance reviews. Doerr serves on the board of the Obama Foundation and ONE.org.
In February 2009, Doerr was appointed as a member of the USA Economic Recovery Advisory Board by President Barack Obama to provide the President and his administration with advice and counsel in fixing America's economic downturn.
Personal life
Doerr is married to Ann Howland Doerr. They live in Woodside, California, with their children. In August 2010, they signed the Giving Pledge, a campaign set up by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Warren Buffett to get ultra-high-net-worth individuals to donate their fortunes to charitable causes within their lifetime.
Awards
In 1997, Doerr was named a Distinguished Alumnus of Rice University for his accomplishments in business. In 2009, Doerr was named a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. In 2010, Doerr was inducted into the California Hall of Fame.
Politics
In April 2013, a lobbying group called FWD.us was launched, with John Doerr listed as one of the founders. Doerr is a supporter of the Democratic Party and has hosted fundraisers for them on several occasions.
