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John Kao – Brief Biography

Dubbed “Mr. Creativity” by The Economist, John calls himself an innovation activist. He is chairman of the Institute for Large Scale Innovation, whose i20 group is an association of national innovation ‘czars.’ He wrote Jamming: The Art and Discipline of Business Creativity, a BusinessWeek best-seller, and Innovation Nation, published in October, 2007 about America’s growing innovation challenge.

John was a member of the Harvard Business School faculty from 1982-96, where he created executive and MBA programs on innovation. He is currently a director of the Bay Area Science and Innovation Consortium, founding member of Cisco System’s Innovation Commission and chair of the Global Advisory Council on Innovation of the World Economic Forum. He is a director of Phylotech, a company that bridges life sciences, IT and clean tech, as well as board advisor to twofour54, a media company based in Abu Dhabi

John is also an angel investor in emerging technology companies, and a Tony-nominated producer of film (sex, lies and videotape, Mr. Baseball) and stage (Golden Child, Flower Drum Song). He is a graduate of Yale College (philosophy), Yale Medical School (psychiatry) and Harvard Business School (management). A jazz pianist at heart, he apprenticed to rock legend Frank Zappa in 1969.