Engineer and acclaimed venture capitalist John Doerr to speak at Rice Dec. 4

MEDIA ADVISORY

Jeff Falk
jfalk@rice.edu
713-348-6775

Engineer and acclaimed venture capitalist John Doerr to speak at Rice Dec. 4

HOUSTON (Nov. 19, 2018) – Engineer, acclaimed venture capitalist and Rice University alumnus John Doerr will visit the university Dec. 4 for a public talk on “Measuring, Finding and Developing Successful Tech Innovations to Change the World.” Doerr is the author of the new New York Times bestseller “Measure What Matters,” a handbook for setting and achieving audacious goals.

Registration for this free President’s Lecture Series event is required at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/presidents-lecture-series-featuring-john-doerr-tickets-52236839794.

What: A presentation on “Measuring, Finding and Developing Successful Tech Innovations to Change the World.”

Who: John Doerr, engineer, acclaimed venture capitalist and author.

David Leebron, president of Rice University, will give welcoming remarks.

When: 7-8:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 4.

Where: Rice University, Alice Pratt Brown Hall’s Stude Concert Hall (on west side of campus), 6100 Main St.

Parking is available in the Central Campus Garage and West Lot 2. For directions and parking information, see https://www.rice.edu/maps.shtml.

Doerr, who earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering in 1973 and 1974, respectively, from Rice, currently serves as chairman of Kleiner Perkins. He was an original investor and board member at Google and Amazon, helping to create more than 500,000 jobs and the world’s second- and third-most valuable companies, according to event organizers. He is passionate about helping entrepreneurs reimagine the future in everything from health care transformation to machine learning. Outside of Kleiner Perkins, Doerr works with social entrepreneurs for change in public education, the climate crisis and global poverty. He serves on the board of the Obama Center and ONE, a nonpartisan campaigning and advocacy organization.

In 2015, Rice University established the Doerr Institute for New Leaders with significant support from Doerr and his wife, Ann Doerr, who also earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from Rice and serves on the university’s board of trustees. The Doerr Institute’s mission is to “elevate the leadership capacity of Rice students across the university.” The institute is led by executive director Tom Kolditz, a nationally recognized leadership scholar and retired brigadier general.

The President’s Lecture Series, which is sponsored by the Office of the President and supported by the J. Newton Rayzor Lecture Fund, was created to enrich the intellectual life of the Houston community by bringing to the Rice campus “celebrities of substance,” speakers of both high intellectual distinction and broad public appeal.

Members of the news media who want to attend or schedule an interview with Doerr or Kolditz in advance of the event should contact Jeff Falk, associate director of national media relations at Rice, at jfalk@rice.edu or 713-348-6775.

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