Andrew J. "Flip" Filipowski is a Polish

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 American technology entrepreneur born in 1950 in Chicago, IL. He is currently the Executive Chairman and CEO of SilkRoad Equity, a private investment firm, and founded Platinum Technology

Platinum Technology

Platinum Technology Inc. was founded by Andrew Filipowski in 1987 to market and support deployment of database management software products and the applications enabled by database management technology and render related services...

 in 1985. He founded or cofounded Blue Rhino Corporation; Primo Water; SilkRoad technology, Inc.; DBMS, Inc.; the House of Blues

House of Blues

House of Blues is a chain of 13 live music concert halls and restaurants in major markets throughout the United States. House of Blues first location was in Cambridge's Harvard Square. It was opened in 1992 by Isaac Tigrett, co-founder of Hard Rock Cafe, and Dan Aykroyd, star of The Blues Brothers...

; SolidSpace, Inc.; onramp Branding; MissionMode and InterAct 911 Corp. Platinum technology was sold to Computer Associates (CA) in 1999 for $3.5 billion, a record at the time for a software company. Filipowski's personal proceeds from the deal were $290 million.

Filipowski founded or served in an executive capacity in a number of companies including divine, inc.

Divine (corporation)

divine inc, was a Chicago-based company that started out as an Internet Incubator named divine interVentures. The company was founded by Andrew 'Flip' Filipowski in 1999....

; DBMS, Inc.; and Cullinet

Cullinet

Cullinet was a software company whose products included the database management system IDMS and the integrated software package Goldengate. In 1989, the company was bought by Computer Associates...

 Corp; he also served in various managerial and technical positions with A.B. Dick; Motorola

Motorola

Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009...

; and Time, Inc. Throughout the course of his career, Filipowski along with his management team, has acquired and integrated nearly 200 public and private companies.

Flip was the 1998 recipient of the Anti-Defamation League

Anti-Defamation League

The Anti-Defamation League is an international non-governmental organization based in the United States. Describing itself as "the nation's premier civil rights/human relations agency", the ADL states that it "fights anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry, defends democratic ideals and protects...

's Torch of Liberty Award, first for the Silicon Prairie

Silicon Prairie

The Silicon Prairie can refer to one of several places in the United States: an area in Illinois, one in a multi-state region comprised loosely of parts of Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, Kansas, Minnesota, North Dakota, and Missouri, one in Wyoming, and one in Texas.- Dallas-Fort Worth Silicon...

 (Chicago), for his support in fighting hate on the Internet

In 2000, Flip was named one of the 100 most influential individuals in the technology field in Upside magazine

Upside (magazine)

Upside was a San Francisco-based business and technology magazine for venture capitalists. It was published from 1989 to 2002. It had a circulation above 300,000.-Beginnings:Upside was started by banker Anthony B...

’s 2000 Upside Elite 100 list.