# Sean Gourley

> Sean Gourley is a New Zealand physicist and entrepreneur who co-founded Quid in 2009 and founded Primer in 2015, serving as its CEO until April 2023. A Rhodes Scholar and former national decathlon champion, he has researched mathematical patterns in insurgent conflicts, built tools for analysing information, and joined Serko as an independent non-executive director in February 2024.

- **Role:** Independent non-executive director at Serko
- **Organizations:** Primer, Quid, Serko, Cyber Sierra, NASA Ames, University of Oxford, Anadarko Petroleum, TED
- **Nationality:** New Zealander
- **Education:** Master of Science in physics, University of Canterbury, PhD in physics; Rhodes Scholar, Balliol College, University of Oxford
- **Known for:** Rhodes Scholar, New Zealand and Balliol cohort of 2002., Co-author of a 2009 Nature paper modelling common patterns across insurgent conflicts., 2009 TED Fellow.

## Career timeline

- **2000** — Won the New Zealand senior decathlon title, as documented retrospectively in Canterbury’s 2001 Chronicle.
- **2002** — Took up a Rhodes Scholarship at Oxford.
- **2006** — Completed a physics PhD at Oxford, according to his Physics Today interview.
- **Before 2009** — Worked on self-repairing nanocircuits at NASA Ames.
- **2008** — Moved to Silicon Valley during the financial crisis.
- **2009** — Co-founded Quid and served as CTO; became a TED Fellow; co-authored Common ecology quantifies human insurgency in Nature.
- **2013** — Presented Mapping ideas worth spreading at TED with Eric Berlow.
- **2015** — Founded Primer; joined Anadarko Petroleum’s board.
- **2019** — Anadarko board service ended with its acquisition.
- **2022** — Primer acquired disinformation analysis company Yonder.
- **2023-04** — Stepped down as Primer CEO; Sean Moriarty was appointed on April 19.
- **2024-02** — Joined Serko as an independent non-executive director.
- **2024-07** — Publicly announced an advisory role with Cyber Sierra.
- **2025-06** — Became chair of Serko’s People, Remuneration and Culture Committee.

## Achievements

- Rhodes Scholar, New Zealand and Balliol cohort of 2002.
- Co-author of a 2009 Nature paper modelling common patterns across insurgent conflicts.
- 2009 TED Fellow.
- Co-founded Quid and founded Primer.
- National decathlon champion; O’Reilly describes him as a two-time New Zealand track and field champion.

## Latest updates

- **2025-06** — Serko lists him as chair of its People, Remuneration and Culture Committee from June 2025.
- **2025-02** — Appeared on New Zealand’s Q+A to discuss AI, drones and military technological advantage.
- **2024-07** — Announced he was advising Cyber Sierra.
- **2024-02** — Joined Serko’s board as an independent non-executive director.

## Links

- Website: http://www.seangourley.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sgourley
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/sgourley

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/sean-gourley
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-15