David Bohnett

David Bohnett, May 2011. Photo by Mathew Imaging

David C. Bohnett (born April 2, 1956) is an American philanthropist and technology entrepreneur.

Life and career

Bohnett was born in Chicago, Illinois. He is the Chairman of the David Bohnett Foundation,^[1] a non-profit, grant-making organization with the stated goal of "improving society through social activism." In 1994, along with John Rezner, he co-founded GeoCities, an Internet-based media and e-commerce company, publicly traded on NASDAQ and subsequently acquired by Yahoo! Inc in 1999. In 1998, he was ranked #16 on Time Digital's list of Cyber Elite.^[2]

In addition to GeoCities, Bohnett, has had significant involvement with a number of web ventures, including NetZero, Stamps.com, LowerMyBills, Gamesville, PlanetOut Inc., MediaVast, and Xdrive.^[3] He currently serves as Chairman of OVGuide.com.^[4] He manages OVGuide.com as well as a portfolio of investments through his early stage technology fund, Baroda Ventures.^[5] In 2010, Baroda Ventures invested $250,000 into the gay social network Fabulis.^[6]

He is the Chairman of the Board of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association,^[7] and Trustee of amFar, the Foundation for AIDS Research and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). He is also a supporter of the effort to clean up Lake Agawam in Southampton, New York.^[8]

Bohnett received his MBA in finance from the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business, and a BS in business administration from the University of Southern California. In addition, he has lectured at the Marshall School of Business at USC, and was named a Regents' Lecturer at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Personal

Bohnett and his significant other, radio and internet personality and socio-political and entertainment industry commentator Tom Gregory,^[9] live in Beverly Hills, California.

Bohnett was involved in a ten year relationship with Los Angeles Municipal Court judge and AIDS activist Rand Schrader until Schrader's death in 1993.^[10] Bohnett was Schrader's life insurance beneficiary, and Bohnett used the money to help create Beverly Hills Internet, which was the precursor to GeoCities.^[10]

Foundation

The stated mission of the David Bohnett Foundation is, "David Bohnett and the David Bohnett Foundation are committed to improving society through social activism. We pursue our mission by providing funding, state-of-the-art technology and technical support to innovative organizations and institutions that, in addition to meeting our funding guidelines, share our vision."

Since 1999, the David Bohnett Foundation has offered support in several primary funding areas: The Fund for Los Angeles, supporting a broad spectrum of arts, educational and civic programs; LGBT-related causes; voting rights and registration initiatives; supporting research and public policies to reduce the toll of firearm violence; and animal research and rights. The David Bohnett CyberCenters are another major undertaking—numbering 59 locations nationwide^[11], they offer business, educational, research, and recreational opportunities to underserved LGBT communities via computer equipment and access to the Internet.^[12]

Archival Collection

In 2007, David Bohnett donated a collection of Winsor McCay animation drawings to the Fales Library at New York University.^[13]

External links

• The Fales library guide to the David C. Bohnett collection of Winsor McCay Drawings
• David Bohnett Foundation
• Baroda Ventures

References

1. ^ "David Bohnett Foundation". http://www.bohnettfoundation.org/pages/mission. Retrieved 2010-06-05. 
2. ^ "Top Fifty Cyber Elite". TIME Digital. 1998-10-05. http://www.time.com/time/digital/cyberelite/. Retrieved 2007-05-14. 
3. ^ "Cause/Effect". LA Times. http://www.latimes.com/features/la-mag-may032009-broadbohnett,0,342837.story. Retrieved 2009-07-14. 
4. ^ "Interview with David Bohnett, OVGuide.com". http://www.socaltech.com/interview_with_david_bohnett_ovguide_com/s-0013039.html. Retrieved 2008-01-11. 
5. ^ "Baroda Ventures LLC". http://www.barodaventures.com/. Retrieved 2007-05-16. 
6. ^ http://venturebeat.com/2010/06/30/david-bohnett-geocities-fabulis/
7. ^ "Los Angeles Philharmonic Association Board of Directors". http://www.laphil.com/about/directors.cfm. Retrieved 2007-05-14. 
8. ^ "New website will allow residents to monitor Lake Agawam water quality". Southampton Press. http://www.27east.com/story_detail.cfm?id=221606&town=Southampton. Retrieved 2009-07-14. 
9. ^ ""Brokeback" shirts' auction winner speaks". PlanetOut Entertainment. http://www.planetout.com/entertainment/interview.html?sernum=1188. Retrieved 2007-05-25. 
10. ^ ^{a b} Michael Kearns (1999-11-24). "Out on the Web". LA Weekly. http://www.laweekly.com/1999-12-02/art-books/out-on-the-web/. Retrieved 2010-11-02. 
11. ^ "Map of David Bohnett CyberCenter locations". David Bohnett Foundation. http://www.bohnettfoundation.org/cybercenters/. Retrieved 2011-09-14. 
12. ^ "David Bohnett Foundation gives $500,000 in 'refresh' grants". LGBT POV. http://www.lgbtpov.com/2010/02/david-bohnett-foundation-gives-500000-in-refresh-grants/. Retrieved 2010-05-19. 
13. ^ "The Fales library guide to the David C. Bohnett collection of Winsor McCay Drawings". nyu.edu. 2009-03-04. http://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/fales/mccay.html. Retrieved 2010-06-05. 

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Name	Bohnett, David
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Date of birth	1956-04-02
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