Clark's string of
successful ventures has roots in a supportive academic
setting
In an interview in
Building 10 last week, entrepreneur and former Stanford
professor Jim Clark and Provost John Hennessy were in a
buoyant mood laughing about old times and, more
seriously, contemplating the next frontier in scientific
knowledge.
The occasion was a most
happy one. Clark was on campus to finalize his plans for
a $150 million donation to Stanford -- one that will
place The Farm at the forefront of scientific innovations
that will arise from breaking down traditional barriers
between academic disciplines.
"In 1979, we shared a
secretary," Clark reminded Hennessy, recalling the
days when the two were colleagues in the Department of
Electrical Engineering.
"Wow, it doesn't feel
like 20 years!" Hennessy said.
Hennessy recalled that
Clark had encouraged him to develop the technologies that
would later lead him to take a leave from the university
to found MIPS Computer Systems. And Clark recalled that
Hennessy did some consulting work for him at Silicon
Graphics.
Clark traced back to
former Engineering School Dean Fred Terman and alumni
Bill Hewlett and the late David Packard the
"legendary association that exists here between
business and academia. Having been in academia, I can
tell you that not all academic settings have that
orientation -- even today.
"There are a lot of
side effects and benefits from having this close
association, and Stanford is probably the best example of
that in the world."
Clark received a Ph.D. in
computer science in 1974 from the University of Utah. He
received a B.S. in physics in 1970 and an M.S. in physics
from the University of New Orleans in 1971.
He taught as an assistant
professor at the University of California-Santa Cruz from
1974 to 1978 before joining Stanford, where he was an
associate professor in the Department of Electrical
Engineering from 1979 to 1982.
"Once I developed a
purpose in life, it was to become a professor. And it's
still a part of me, even after I decided to leave,"
he said.
After developing the
geometry engine chip, Clark left Stanford to found
Silicon Graphics Inc., where the chip became the core of
SGI's technology, providing affordable 3-D computer
systems, capable of rendering images interactively and in
real time. He served as chairman of the SGI board for 13
years, during which the company grew to more than $4
billion in annual revenues.
In January 1994, Clark
left Silicon Graphics. After he met Marc Andreessen, the
two founded Netscape to commercialize the World Wide Web
with the team of young programmers at the University of
Illinois who had written the widely used Internet
software tool "Mosaic." Clark served as
chairman of Netscape Communications until it was bought
by American Online in 1999.
But by then he had already
started, in 1996, his newest venture Healtheon Corp.,
which uses the Internet to link participants in the
health care system. Clark will remain chairman of the
board of Healtheon until late 1999, when it will be
merged with WebMD to create Healtheon/WebMD. WebMD is an
Internet portal that offers subscription services to
physicians.
Early this year, Clark
founded his "next new thing": myCFO Inc., an
integrated online financial-management service that helps
individuals simplify their finances. Clark serves as
founder and chairman of the board of myCFO Inc.
And last week there was
news of yet another venture -- Shutterfly.com Inc., a
startup that will allow consumers to share and print
photographs using digital cameras.
Clark has hobbies, too.
Late last year he united his love of technology and
sailing to launch a high-tech sailboat with a
sophisticated control system that he helped design and
engineer. SR
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