Steve Arnold (venture capitalist)
Encyclopedia
Steve Arnold is a co-founder of Polaris Venture Partners
.
Steve represents Polaris on the boards of directors of Impinj
and Noetix. Steve is co-founder and vice chairman of the board of directors of the George Lucas Educational Foundation. He also serves on the boards of CASEL (Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning, founded by Daniel Goleman
and Eileen Rockefeller Growald
, focused on increasing social and emotional learning in schools); IslandWood
(overnight environmental education program for 4th and 5th graders from Puget Sound
region); ePals, (which provides safe and secure blog and email applications and mentor-based reading and curriculum programs for students and teachers worldwide); and Rainmaker Entertainment, which develops animated films and television programs.
Steve was drafted to Atari in the late 1970s to develop "blue sky" projects at a skunkworks lab inside the company. In the early 80's he moved to Lucasfilm Ltd. to lead the recently formed "Games Group" to produce advanced videogames and interactive entertainment. Over the next 7 years he built what became LucasArts Entertainment, a small successful division of Lucasfilm - and the only part of the famous Computer Division that was not closed or spun off in the 1980s (ie. the editing and sound projects were spun out as The Droid Works; the graphics project was spun out as Pixar). Steve left Lucasfilm to join Microsoft and lead special projects there, ultimately building a pet-project of Gates, then called Continuum, working on licensing images. In the end, Steve Arnold left Continuum and it was renamed Corbis.
and an MA and PhD from the California Institute of Integral Studies
(CIIS) in San Francisco.
Polaris Venture Partners
Polaris Venture Partners is a venture capital firm specializing in seed and early stage investments particularly in companies engaged in the information technology and life sciences sectors....
.
Steve represents Polaris on the boards of directors of Impinj
Impinj
Impinj, Inc. is a manufacturer of radio-frequency identification technology. The company was founded in 2000 and is headquartered in Seattle, Washington. The company was started based on the research done at the California Institute of Technology by Carver Mead and Chris Diorio...
and Noetix. Steve is co-founder and vice chairman of the board of directors of the George Lucas Educational Foundation. He also serves on the boards of CASEL (Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning, founded by Daniel Goleman
Daniel Goleman
Daniel Jay Goleman is an author, psychologist, and science journalist. For twelve years, he wrote for The New York Times, specializing in psychology and brain sciences. He is the author of more than 10 books on psychology, education, science, and leadership.-Life:Goleman was born in Stockton,...
and Eileen Rockefeller Growald
Eileen Rockefeller Growald
Eileen Rockefeller Growald is the youngest daughter of David Rockefeller, great-granddaughter of Standard Oil founder John D. Rockefeller. She is a fourth-generation member of the Rockefeller family, known generically as "the Cousins"...
, focused on increasing social and emotional learning in schools); IslandWood
IslandWood
IslandWood is a non-profit outdoor learning center located on Bainbridge Island in Washington. It was founded in 2001 to provide environmental education for young people living in King and Kitsap Counties....
(overnight environmental education program for 4th and 5th graders from Puget Sound
Puget Sound
Puget Sound is a sound in the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected marine waterways and basins, with one major and one minor connection to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Pacific Ocean — Admiralty Inlet being the major connection and...
region); ePals, (which provides safe and secure blog and email applications and mentor-based reading and curriculum programs for students and teachers worldwide); and Rainmaker Entertainment, which develops animated films and television programs.
Steve was drafted to Atari in the late 1970s to develop "blue sky" projects at a skunkworks lab inside the company. In the early 80's he moved to Lucasfilm Ltd. to lead the recently formed "Games Group" to produce advanced videogames and interactive entertainment. Over the next 7 years he built what became LucasArts Entertainment, a small successful division of Lucasfilm - and the only part of the famous Computer Division that was not closed or spun off in the 1980s (ie. the editing and sound projects were spun out as The Droid Works; the graphics project was spun out as Pixar). Steve left Lucasfilm to join Microsoft and lead special projects there, ultimately building a pet-project of Gates, then called Continuum, working on licensing images. In the end, Steve Arnold left Continuum and it was renamed Corbis.
Education
Steve holds a BS with honors from Macalester CollegeMacalester College
Macalester College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college located in Saint Paul, Minnesota. It was founded in 1874 as a Presbyterian-affiliated but nonsectarian college. Its first class entered September 15, 1885. The college is located on a campus in a historic residential neighborhood...
and an MA and PhD from the California Institute of Integral Studies
California Institute of Integral Studies
California Institute of Integral Studies is a private institution of higher education founded in 1968 and based in San Francisco, California. It currently operates in three locations just south of the Civic Center district...
(CIIS) in San Francisco.