Jay Walker
Encyclopedia
Jay Scott Walker is an American
inventor, entrepreneur
and chairman of Walker Digital
, a privately held research and development lab focused on using digital networks to create new business systems. Best known as the founder of Priceline.com
, Walker has launched and led several successful entrepreneurial ventures and startup companies that today serve more than 75 million customers in 15 different industries. In 2000, Forbes estimated his net worth at $1.6 billion. By October 2000, his estimated worth was down to $333 million.
Walker is named on more than 450 issued and pending U.S. and international patents, making him one of the most prolific individual living inventors
.
Time
magazine twice named Walker one of the TIME Digital 50.
A 1999 Forbes
profile of Walker questioned if he was "An Edison for a New Age," noting his reliance on patents as a business model. Businessweek
featured him as one of the "Businessweek e.biz 25" in 1999.
Walker Digital is a privately held "innovation and development" lab founded in 1994 and based in Stamford
, Connecticut
. Since its founding, Walker Digital has funded an R&D budget well in excess of US$100 million. The company specializes in creating applications that work with large-scale networks such as cell phones and the Internet
. Walker and/or Walker Digital often partners with Fortune 500
firms such as Time Warner
and International Game Technology
(IGT) to bring its inventions to market, or licenses other companies to do so.
where he majored in industrial relations.
Walker took a year off from his studies to start and run a weekly newspaper, the Midweek Observer, in Ithaca
, New York
which was initially successful. Walker returned to the university, where he was a member of the Quill and Dagger
society and the Sigma Phi Society. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1978.
network to process magazine subscriptions. Synapse sells magazine subscriptions chiefly through marketing relationships with credit card issuers, consumer catalog companies, airlines with frequent flier programs, retailers and Internet businesses.
Walker served as the company’s marketing leader and created a customer database of 25 million active buyers. By 1998 Synapse had sold 30 million magazine subscriptions, with sales approaching $300 million. For his work, Walker won the Direct Marketing Association’s "Direct Marketer of the Year" award in 1999.
Synapse grew to become the largest seller of consumer magazine subscriptions in the U.S., leveraging its "continuous service" model to fundamentally change the business of periodicals sales and renewals. In 1999, Walker Digital was awarded a patent, which it assigned to Synapse, for this "continuous service" magazine subscription model.
In 2004, and again in 2005, Synapse was named one of the 25 "Best Places to Work in America" among medium-sized companies by the Great Place to Work Institute. Synapse employs more than 250 people.
In 2001 Time Warner purchased a controlling stake in Synapse for a sum in excess of $500 million, completing the transaction in 2006.
in 1998, partially self-funding the startup company. Additional funds came from investors including Microsoft
co-founder Paul Allen
, financier George Soros
, Lotus Development Corp. CEO Jim Manzi; and cable TV magnate John C. Malone
.
Priceline caught public attention with its "name your own price" advertising campaign, using actor William Shatner
as its celebrity spokesman: users agree in advance to purchase a service or product “blind”—without knowing precisely which provider would supply the product or service. They might be required to be flexible about travel dates and times, airports and cities.
Sellers could remain anonymous while using the system, to move inventory at discounted prices without appearing to break their publicly advertised price structure. Consumers do not learn from which company they have purchased until after the sale is completed.
Priceline sold an estimated 40,000 tickets in its first quarter of operation. In 1999, Priceline went public. Walker left Priceline in late 2000 to focus on new ventures with Walker Digital.
s would be installed nationwide at security-sensitive sites including border crossings, water reservoirs, chemical plants, nuclear power generators, airports, etc. Observers would report any suspicious activity to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security within 30 seconds. Wired
magazine called the idea "intriguing".
The Atlantic reported that Walker Digital invested several million dollars developing a prototype, offering the sell the system to the U.S. government for $1. Estimating that a test would cost $40 million, Walker said he was prepared to raise private funds for this purpose. On the recommendation of then-Rep. Christopher Shays
(R-Conn.), Walker held numerous meetings with White House and DHS officials but the U.S. declined to go forward with the project.
In 2006 CNNMoney
cited U.S. HomeGuard as the inspiration for a similar public-private partnership when Texas
Gov. Rick Perry
announced plans for a webcam-based "virtual border patrol". By late 2008 the result was Texas Virtual Border Watch
(www.texasborderwatch.com). In its first four months, the program experienced technical challenges and political controversy; its 43,000 "virtual deputies" were credited with four drug busts and with preventing 30 illegal immigrant crossings.
field with the goal of revolutionizing the vending industry through enabling smart vending technology.
In 2007 Walker Digital exclusively licensed the patents for these innovations to Vendmore Systems, which launched its smart-technology-enabled platform in 2007 under the name QuickStore24TM.
(IGT), the world’s largest manufacturer of casino games. He worked with IGT to develop innovative concepts and technologies for dozens of networked slot machines and other gaming devices, initially under a comprehensive license agreement.
The first result of the partnership was Guaranteed Play, a new method for casino game players to purchase game play. Customers receive a fixed number of slot machine spins or blackjack hands, known as a "session" of play, at a discounted price, by paying in advance. Guaranteed Play has enjoyed a limited but successful introduction at such casinos as the Red Rock Casino in Las Vegas
, Nevada
.
In 2010 Walker Digital sold approximately 100 patents to IGT, concluding the partnership.
table and Smart Table Network, supporting Elite Baccarat. Industry business journals reported that Perfect Pay utilizes RFID technology to track baccarat wagers, hand outcomes, payouts and player ratings in real time while eliminating losses from dealer mis-pays, counterfeit chips and other problems.
Perfect Pay and Elite Baccarat both won Gold Awards from Casino Journal at the 2009 Gaming Technology Summit.
Genting Berhad
, the Malaysia-based owner and operator of the world’s largest casino, the Genting Highlands
, has ordered 100 Perfect Pay tables for that facility.
In October 15, 2009 Walker Digital, LLC filed its first patent infringement
action. The suit against Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, and Dell, Inc., was decided on January 3, 2011 as non-infringed.
In November 2010 Walker Digital LLC sued Facebook
for friending, or "Method and system for establishing and maintaining user-controlled anonymous communications".
On April 11, 2011 Walker Digital filed 15 lawsuits against more than 100 defendants including Amazon, Google and Microsoft for unauthorized use of its intellectual properties.
Walker is a Patron of TED
, a small non-profit organisation dedicated to "Ideas Worth Spreading". He is a frequent speaker and contributor to its conferences, having delivered talks on such topics as human imagination and "English language mania", among others.
In April 2011, Walker Purchased TEDMED
from Marc Hodosh.
For many years Walker has been involved with the Young Presidents' Organization
. YPO’s core mission is to develop "Better Leaders Through Education and Idea Exchange".
Walker has partnered with the World Economic Forum
in Davos, Switzerland
, to develop enhanced communications systems between business and governments.
He has testified before the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee on economic policy and on how to reform the patent system. He is widely sought as a speaker by business groups, non-profit organisations and the academic community.
Walker funded the development of two public policy documentary films about the space race and the role of science in American life. The first film focused on the impact of Sputnik on America’s education system. The second film, "Sputnik Mania", explored broader U.S. cultural reactions to Sputnik.
home, the 3,600 sq. ft. private facility contains more than 50,000 volumes including thousands of landmark books and museum-level artifacts. The architecture is a multi-level, maze-like setting, inspired in part by the paradoxical spaces depicted by artist M.C. Escher
.
The "library" is the subject of a short documentary film by David Hoffman
, and was profiled as "the most amazing library in the world" by Wired magazine. Walker, who refers to himself as the library’s “curator,” has spoken about its theme and displayed some of its contents at the annual TED conference in Long Beach
, California
. Jay Walker has hosted numerous world leaders from business, government, science, medicine, the arts and education. It is not open to the public.
named him the year's "Most Influential New Business Strategist".
In 2009 the Entrepreneurship Program at his alma mater honored Walker as the "Cornell Entrepreneur of the Year".
, Vice Chairman of the Harvey School in Westchester County, New York
and a former personnel executive at IBM
.
Jay Walker is a licensed pilot.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
inventor, entrepreneur
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
and chairman of Walker Digital
Walker Digital
Walker Digital is a privately held American research and development lab based in Stamford, Connecticut. It was founded in 1994 by Jay S. Walker, who also holds the position of chairman as of 2011. The company specializes in creating applications and business solutions that work with large-scale...
, a privately held research and development lab focused on using digital networks to create new business systems. Best known as the founder of Priceline.com
Priceline.com
Priceline.com is a company and a commercial website that helps users obtain discount rates for travel-related purchases such as airline tickets and hotel stays. The company is not a direct supplier of these services; instead it facilitates the provision of travel services by its suppliers to its...
, Walker has launched and led several successful entrepreneurial ventures and startup companies that today serve more than 75 million customers in 15 different industries. In 2000, Forbes estimated his net worth at $1.6 billion. By October 2000, his estimated worth was down to $333 million.
Walker is named on more than 450 issued and pending U.S. and international patents, making him one of the most prolific individual living inventors
Prolific inventors
Thomas Edison was widely known as the world's most prolific inventor. He holds a total of 1,093 U.S. patents .List of Edison patents By 2005, he was passed by Japanese inventor Shunpei Yamazaki. Yamazaki was subsequently passed by Australian inventor Kia Silverbrook on February 26, 2008....
.
Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine twice named Walker one of the TIME Digital 50.
A 1999 Forbes
Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
profile of Walker questioned if he was "An Edison for a New Age," noting his reliance on patents as a business model. Businessweek
BusinessWeek
Bloomberg Businessweek, commonly and formerly known as BusinessWeek, is a weekly business magazine published by Bloomberg L.P. It is currently headquartered in New York City.- History :...
featured him as one of the "Businessweek e.biz 25" in 1999.
Walker Digital is a privately held "innovation and development" lab founded in 1994 and based in Stamford
Stamford, Connecticut
Stamford is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city is 122,643, making it the fourth largest city in the state and the eighth largest city in New England...
, Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
. Since its founding, Walker Digital has funded an R&D budget well in excess of US$100 million. The company specializes in creating applications that work with large-scale networks such as cell phones and the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
. Walker and/or Walker Digital often partners with Fortune 500
Fortune 500
The Fortune 500 is an annual list compiled and published by Fortune magazine that ranks the top 500 U.S. closely held and public corporations as ranked by their gross revenue after adjustments made by Fortune to exclude the impact of excise taxes companies collect. The list includes publicly and...
firms such as Time Warner
Time Warner
Time Warner is one of the world's largest media companies, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. Formerly two separate companies, Warner Communications, Inc...
and International Game Technology
International Game Technology
International Game Technology is a Nevada based company specializing in the design, development, manufacturing, sales and distribution of gaming machines and network system products internationally, as well as online and mobile gaming solutions for regulated markets. The company's main offices are...
(IGT) to bring its inventions to market, or licenses other companies to do so.
Early life
Walker began his entrepreneurial career at age 9 by launching his own newspaper. He attended Cornell UniversityCornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
where he majored in industrial relations.
Walker took a year off from his studies to start and run a weekly newspaper, the Midweek Observer, in Ithaca
Ithaca, New York
The city of Ithaca, is a city in upstate New York and the county seat of Tompkins County, as well as the largest community in the Ithaca-Tompkins County metropolitan area...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
which was initially successful. Walker returned to the university, where he was a member of the Quill and Dagger
Quill and Dagger
Quill and Dagger is a senior honor society at Cornell University. It is often recognized as one of the most prominent collegiate societies of its type, along with Skull and Bones of Yale University...
society and the Sigma Phi Society. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1978.
Synapse
In 1992 Walker and Michael Loeb co-founded New Sub Services, today known as Synapse Group, a company that used the credit cardCredit card
A credit card is a small plastic card issued to users as a system of payment. It allows its holder to buy goods and services based on the holder's promise to pay for these goods and services...
network to process magazine subscriptions. Synapse sells magazine subscriptions chiefly through marketing relationships with credit card issuers, consumer catalog companies, airlines with frequent flier programs, retailers and Internet businesses.
Walker served as the company’s marketing leader and created a customer database of 25 million active buyers. By 1998 Synapse had sold 30 million magazine subscriptions, with sales approaching $300 million. For his work, Walker won the Direct Marketing Association’s "Direct Marketer of the Year" award in 1999.
Synapse grew to become the largest seller of consumer magazine subscriptions in the U.S., leveraging its "continuous service" model to fundamentally change the business of periodicals sales and renewals. In 1999, Walker Digital was awarded a patent, which it assigned to Synapse, for this "continuous service" magazine subscription model.
In 2004, and again in 2005, Synapse was named one of the 25 "Best Places to Work in America" among medium-sized companies by the Great Place to Work Institute. Synapse employs more than 250 people.
In 2001 Time Warner purchased a controlling stake in Synapse for a sum in excess of $500 million, completing the transaction in 2006.
Priceline
Walker Digital launched Priceline.comPriceline.com
Priceline.com is a company and a commercial website that helps users obtain discount rates for travel-related purchases such as airline tickets and hotel stays. The company is not a direct supplier of these services; instead it facilitates the provision of travel services by its suppliers to its...
in 1998, partially self-funding the startup company. Additional funds came from investors including Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
co-founder Paul Allen
Paul Allen
Paul Gardner Allen is an American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. Allen co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates...
, financier George Soros
George Soros
George Soros is a Hungarian-American business magnate, investor, philosopher, and philanthropist. He is the chairman of Soros Fund Management. Soros supports progressive-liberal causes...
, Lotus Development Corp. CEO Jim Manzi; and cable TV magnate John C. Malone
John C. Malone
John C. Malone is an American businessman and philanthropist. He served as chief executive officer of cable and media giant, Tele-Communications Inc. , for twenty-four years from 1973–1996. Malone is now chairman of Liberty Media and CEO of Discovery Holding Company. He was the interim CEO...
.
Priceline caught public attention with its "name your own price" advertising campaign, using actor William Shatner
William Shatner
William Alan Shatner is a Canadian actor, musician, recording artist, and author. He gained worldwide fame and became a cultural icon for his portrayal of James T...
as its celebrity spokesman: users agree in advance to purchase a service or product “blind”—without knowing precisely which provider would supply the product or service. They might be required to be flexible about travel dates and times, airports and cities.
Sellers could remain anonymous while using the system, to move inventory at discounted prices without appearing to break their publicly advertised price structure. Consumers do not learn from which company they have purchased until after the sale is completed.
Priceline sold an estimated 40,000 tickets in its first quarter of operation. In 1999, Priceline went public. Walker left Priceline in late 2000 to focus on new ventures with Walker Digital.
U.S. HomeGuard
In 2003 Walker Digital devised an Internet–based surveillance system called U.S. HomeGuard. The basic concept was to hire 1 million work-at-home employees who would log in over the Internet to provide constant surveillance of image feeds from some 47,000 security cameras. These webcamWebcam
A webcam is a video camera that feeds its images in real time to a computer or computer network, often via USB, ethernet, or Wi-Fi.Their most popular use is the establishment of video links, permitting computers to act as videophones or videoconference stations. This common use as a video camera...
s would be installed nationwide at security-sensitive sites including border crossings, water reservoirs, chemical plants, nuclear power generators, airports, etc. Observers would report any suspicious activity to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security within 30 seconds. Wired
Wired (magazine)
Wired is a full-color monthly American magazine and on-line periodical, published since January 1993, that reports on how new and developing technology affects culture, the economy, and politics...
magazine called the idea "intriguing".
The Atlantic reported that Walker Digital invested several million dollars developing a prototype, offering the sell the system to the U.S. government for $1. Estimating that a test would cost $40 million, Walker said he was prepared to raise private funds for this purpose. On the recommendation of then-Rep. Christopher Shays
Christopher Shays
Christopher H. Shays is an American politician. He was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives and represented the 4th District of Connecticut....
(R-Conn.), Walker held numerous meetings with White House and DHS officials but the U.S. declined to go forward with the project.
In 2006 CNNMoney
CNNMoney.com
CNNMoney.com is the world's largest business website. The site is the online home of Fortune and Money, and serves as CNN.com's exclusive business site. The site, edited by Chris Peacock, together with the three titles, is part of the Fortune|Money Group, and attracts more than 10.8 million unique...
cited U.S. HomeGuard as the inspiration for a similar public-private partnership when Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
Gov. Rick Perry
Rick Perry
James Richard "Rick" Perry is the 47th and current Governor of Texas. A Republican, Perry was elected Lieutenant Governor of Texas in 1998 and assumed the governorship in December 2000 when then-governor George W. Bush resigned to become President of the United States. Perry was elected to full...
announced plans for a webcam-based "virtual border patrol". By late 2008 the result was Texas Virtual Border Watch
Texas Virtual Border Watch
The Texas Virtual Border Watch is a pilot program created by the State of Texas that allows individuals with internet access to observe and report on the Texas-Mexico border via their computers...
(www.texasborderwatch.com). In its first four months, the program experienced technical challenges and political controversy; its 43,000 "virtual deputies" were credited with four drug busts and with preventing 30 illegal immigrant crossings.
QuickStore 24
In 2003 Walker Digital began patenting inventions in the vending machineVending machine
A vending machine is a machine which dispenses items such as snacks, beverages, alcohol, cigarettes, lottery tickets, consumer products and even gold and gems to customers automatically, after the customer inserts currency or credit into the machine....
field with the goal of revolutionizing the vending industry through enabling smart vending technology.
In 2007 Walker Digital exclusively licensed the patents for these innovations to Vendmore Systems, which launched its smart-technology-enabled platform in 2007 under the name QuickStore24TM.
Partnership with IGT
In 2006 Walker Digital entered into a strategic partnership with International Game TechnologyInternational Game Technology
International Game Technology is a Nevada based company specializing in the design, development, manufacturing, sales and distribution of gaming machines and network system products internationally, as well as online and mobile gaming solutions for regulated markets. The company's main offices are...
(IGT), the world’s largest manufacturer of casino games. He worked with IGT to develop innovative concepts and technologies for dozens of networked slot machines and other gaming devices, initially under a comprehensive license agreement.
The first result of the partnership was Guaranteed Play, a new method for casino game players to purchase game play. Customers receive a fixed number of slot machine spins or blackjack hands, known as a "session" of play, at a discounted price, by paying in advance. Guaranteed Play has enjoyed a limited but successful introduction at such casinos as the Red Rock Casino in Las Vegas
Las Vegas metropolitan area
The Las Vegas Valley is the heart of the Las Vegas-Paradise, NV MSA also known as the Las Vegas–Paradise–Henderson MSA which includes all of Clark County, Nevada, and is a metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada. The Valley is defined by the Las Vegas Valley landform, a ...
, Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
.
In 2010 Walker Digital sold approximately 100 patents to IGT, concluding the partnership.
Perfect Pay Baccarat
In 2009 Walker Digital subsidiary Walker Digital Gaming introduced the Perfect Pay baccaratBaccarat
Baccarat is a card game, played at casinos and by gamblers. It is believed to have been introduced into France from Italy during the reign of King Charles VIII , and it is similar to Faro and Basset...
table and Smart Table Network, supporting Elite Baccarat. Industry business journals reported that Perfect Pay utilizes RFID technology to track baccarat wagers, hand outcomes, payouts and player ratings in real time while eliminating losses from dealer mis-pays, counterfeit chips and other problems.
Perfect Pay and Elite Baccarat both won Gold Awards from Casino Journal at the 2009 Gaming Technology Summit.
Genting Berhad
Genting Group
Genting Group is an Asian conglomerate. It comprises four listed entities Genting Group is an Asian conglomerate. It comprises four listed entities Genting Group is an Asian conglomerate. It comprises four listed entities (namely holding company Genting Berhad (MYX:3182) and its member companies...
, the Malaysia-based owner and operator of the world’s largest casino, the Genting Highlands
Genting Highlands
Genting Highlands otherwise known as Resorts World Genting is the flagship integrated resort developed by Genting Group. It is nestled on a mountain peak within the Titiwangsa Mountains on the border between the states of Pahang and Selangor of Malaysia...
, has ordered 100 Perfect Pay tables for that facility.
Yappr
In 2009 Walker Digital and its partners launched a free website for English-language learning, yappr.com which provides non-English-speakers with a way to learn or improve their English. Viewers watch and listen to short film clips with soundtracks in English. Two sets of simultaneous subtitles are provided, one in English and one in the viewer’s language.Patent lawsuits and disputes
In January 2001, the State of Connecticut Attorney General filed suit against Walker Digital. Faced with mounting financial losses, Jay Walker fired 106 of his 125 employees, violating Federal employment law requiring 60 days notice when laying off more than 33% of the workforce. On September 4, 2002, Walker Digital settles for $275,000 to be split amongst the laid off employees.In October 15, 2009 Walker Digital, LLC filed its first patent infringement
Patent infringement
Patent infringement is the commission of a prohibited act with respect to a patented invention without permission from the patent holder. Permission may typically be granted in the form of a license. The definition of patent infringement may vary by jurisdiction, but it typically includes using or...
action. The suit against Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, and Dell, Inc., was decided on January 3, 2011 as non-infringed.
In November 2010 Walker Digital LLC sued Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
for friending, or "Method and system for establishing and maintaining user-controlled anonymous communications".
On April 11, 2011 Walker Digital filed 15 lawsuits against more than 100 defendants including Amazon, Google and Microsoft for unauthorized use of its intellectual properties.
Other activities
Jay Walker is a board member of several organizations that promote innovative solutions to the world’s problems, including:- The Atlantic CouncilAtlantic CouncilThe Atlantic Council is a Washington, D.C. think tank and public policy group whose mission is to "promote constructive U.S. leadership and engagement in international affairs based on the central role of the Atlantic community in meeting the international challenges of the 21st...
, with stated aim to foster constructive U.S. leadership and engagement in international affairs based on the central role of the Atlantic community in meeting the international challenges of the 21st century.
- The non-profit Preventative Medicine Research Institute, founded by Dean Ornish, M.D..
- World Information Transfer, Inc., a not-for-profit, non-governmental organization in General Consultative Status with the United NationsUnited NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
. WIT works for environmental health and literacy. Walker has spoken to WIT events numerous times on health and environmental issues.
Walker is a Patron of TED
TED (conference)
TED is a global set of conferences owned by the private non-profit Sapling Foundation, formed to disseminate "ideas worth spreading"....
, a small non-profit organisation dedicated to "Ideas Worth Spreading". He is a frequent speaker and contributor to its conferences, having delivered talks on such topics as human imagination and "English language mania", among others.
In April 2011, Walker Purchased TEDMED
TEDMED
TEDMED is an annual conference focusing on health and medicine. TEDMED is an independent event operating under license from the nonprofit TED conference.- Background :TEDMED staff operates from Stamford, CT...
from Marc Hodosh.
For many years Walker has been involved with the Young Presidents' Organization
Young Presidents' Organization
The Young Presidents’ Organization is a global network of young chief executives. With approximately 18,000 members in more than 100 countries, YPO and its graduate organization, WPO share a founding mission: Better Leaders Through Education and Idea Exchange....
. YPO’s core mission is to develop "Better Leaders Through Education and Idea Exchange".
Walker has partnered with the World Economic Forum
World Economic Forum
The World Economic Forum is a Swiss non-profit foundation, based in Cologny, Geneva, best known for its annual meeting in Davos, a mountain resort in Graubünden, in the eastern Alps region of Switzerland....
in Davos, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, to develop enhanced communications systems between business and governments.
He has testified before the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee on economic policy and on how to reform the patent system. He is widely sought as a speaker by business groups, non-profit organisations and the academic community.
Walker funded the development of two public policy documentary films about the space race and the role of science in American life. The first film focused on the impact of Sputnik on America’s education system. The second film, "Sputnik Mania", explored broader U.S. cultural reactions to Sputnik.
The Walker Library of the History of Human Imagination
Walker owns what he calls "The Walker Library of the History of Human Imagination." Located in his Ridgefield, ConnecticutRidgefield, Connecticut
Ridgefield is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. Situated in the foothills of the Berkshire Mountains, the 300-year-old community had a population of 24,638 at the 2010 census. The town center, which was formerly a borough, is defined by the U.S...
home, the 3,600 sq. ft. private facility contains more than 50,000 volumes including thousands of landmark books and museum-level artifacts. The architecture is a multi-level, maze-like setting, inspired in part by the paradoxical spaces depicted by artist M.C. Escher
M. C. Escher
Maurits Cornelis Escher , usually referred to as M. C. Escher , was a Dutch graphic artist. He is known for his often mathematically inspired woodcuts, lithographs, and mezzotints...
.
The "library" is the subject of a short documentary film by David Hoffman
David Hoffman
David Hoffman is one of America’s veteran documentary filmmakers. During his 40-year career, Hoffman has made five feature-length documentaries including King, Murray, an experimental feature film about a Long Island salesman who goes to Las Vegas on a junket to gamble with other high rollers....
, and was profiled as "the most amazing library in the world" by Wired magazine. Walker, who refers to himself as the library’s “curator,” has spoken about its theme and displayed some of its contents at the annual TED conference in Long Beach
Long Beach, California
Long Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. Jay Walker has hosted numerous world leaders from business, government, science, medicine, the arts and education. It is not open to the public.
Honors and awards
In 1999 the Direct Marketing Association named Walker its “Direct Marketer of the Year” and the Industry StandardThe Industry Standard
The Industry Standard is a news web site dedicated to technology business news, part of InfoWorld, a news web site covering technology in general...
named him the year's "Most Influential New Business Strategist".
In 2009 the Entrepreneurship Program at his alma mater honored Walker as the "Cornell Entrepreneur of the Year".
Personal life
Walker married Eileen McManus on April 18, 1982. They have two children. Eileen Walker is a trustee for Cornell UniversityCornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
, Vice Chairman of the Harvey School in Westchester County, New York
Westchester County, New York
Westchester County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. Westchester covers an area of and has a population of 949,113 according to the 2010 Census, residing in 45 municipalities...
and a former personnel executive at IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
.
Jay Walker is a licensed pilot.
External links
- Official biography from WalkerDigital.com
- Video interview with Jay Walker about Priceline.com from CharlieRose.comCharlie RoseCharles Peete "Charlie" Rose, Jr. is an American television talk show host and journalist. Since 1991 he has hosted Charlie Rose, an interview show distributed nationally by PBS since 1993...
- Jay Walker: The Thought Leader Interview from Strategy+Business