Benetech :: About Benetech :: President's Update Archives

Jim Fruchterman
Benetech President and CEO

November 2000

Benetech is actively operational, and I'm delighted to be able to provide a brief summary of our progress.

In November of 1999, I wrote a plan for starting Benetech. The core Benetech idea — an innovative non-profit enterprise creating technology solutions to meet social needs — has not changed over the last year. However, the plan has been greatly strengthened by the many creative and constructive criticisms we have received from our supporters in the high tech community!

The highlights of this update include:

Sale of Arkenstone's business operations
Launch of Benetech
New hires and partners
Short-term goals

- BACK TO TOP -

Sale of Arkenstone

The first phase funding of Benetech is already assured through an exciting event that underscores the soundness of our approach. In June, I sold the business operations of Arkenstone to a venture backed company, Freedom Scientific, for cash and longer-term consideration such as royalties, stock, and development contracts. We kept the Arkenstone engineering team and created Benetech, the successor non-profit to Arkenstone.

Launch of Benetech

Since June, we have worked through the Benetech founding process. We needed to pursue a number of legal and regulatory issues to enlarge the Benetech mission beyond the original disability technology mission, and this process is roughly half complete. New disability technology projects are proceeding apace, with such exciting projects underway as bookster.org, which will greatly improve the access of people with visual and learning disabilities to electronic books through a unique and legal on-line service.

Key Hires and Partners

We have also begun an active recruiting effort that has led to the recent hiring of several key managers:

Jane Simchuk, Manger of Administration, who some of you will remember in this role at Calera Recognition Systems in the 1980s, joined us from her position at the Federal Reserve Bank as the Executive Assistant to the Senior Vice President-in-Charge of the Portland Branch.

Marc Levine, Senior Product Manager for Humanitarian Projects, will bring his extensive international background to bear on our new efforts in the areas of human rights and landmine detector development.

We've also been fortunate to secure the services of Abigail Johnson of the Roeder Johnson Corporation to handle public relations. We appreciate Abigail's willingness to commit her considerable talent to supporting the Benetech mission.

Of course, we also have received considerable support from members of the technology community, who have been generous with their time and contacts.

Short Term Goals

The Benetech goals for the next six months are to:

launch bookster.org in pilot form
fund planning for three Benetech projects internally
continue to recruit top talent for our management team
gain key endorsements from high technology leaders willing to become supporters or advisory board members
secure the volunteer services of leading technologists and business leaders to advise and support projects of particular personal interest
by the end of 2000, commence active fund raising for the Benetech Initiative Fund for seed and early stage funding of Benetech projects

I'm confident of our ability to meet these goals. The Benetech model is a dramatically new and exciting approach to technology serving humanity, informed by the successful Arkenstone experience. Our blend of entrepreneurial drive and the high technology and managerial expertise from the for profit sector with social mission is unique. Our full potential will only be reached with the help and support of the technology community. My goal is to provide you with a powerful and exciting non-profit experience that offers tremendous returns to society and you personally. Please join us.

Jim Fruchterman
President and CEO, The Benetech Initiative
Email: [email protected]