software-pioneer
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Thomas Nies and the price of something free
IBM bundled software with its machines. Thomas M. Nies thought customers would pay for it - and built Cincom in Cincinnati to test the idea. His working life became a long argument for software, independence and keeping your word.
Catherine Heald
Catherine Heald is the co-founder and CEO of Remote Lands, the New York and Bangkok based ultra-luxe tour operator that designs bespoke private journeys across Asia for celebrities, Fortune 500 chiefs and the ultra wealthy. Before luxury travel she was a software pioneer: a Barnard computer science graduate who wrote code on Wall Street, moved to Hong Kong, founded one of the world's first e-book publishers, licensed the Pink Panther to teach kids geography, and in 1996 became one of the youngest female CEOs of a publicly traded company when she took Wanderlust Interactive public in Silicon Alley's first IPO. Today she runs the exclusive operator of Aman Jet Expeditions and has been named a Conde Nast Top Travel Specialist for years running.
Mitch Kapor
Mitch Kapor is the Brooklyn-born software pioneer who created Lotus 1-2-3 - the killer app that made the IBM PC indispensable - then co-founded the Electronic Frontier Foundation to protect digital civil liberties, and eventually built Kapor Capital into one of venture capital's most deliberately diverse funds. At 74, he made headlines completing the MIT Sloan master's degree he started in 1979 before leaving to launch Lotus. He and his wife Freada Kapor Klein run Kapor Capital from Oakland, investing in founders building tech for underserved communities - arguing that inclusion isn't charity, it's good business.