Brad is an American entrepreneur, investor, professor, author,
artist, and philanthropist. He has founded or co-founded nine
technology companies (three of which have gone public on NASDAQ), an
early stage VC firm, a global ideas platform, an immersive museum,
and several nonprofit organizations.
Brad was named overall 2019 EY World Entrepreneur of the Year, the
highest global honor (selected from 44 country winners in the global
EY Entrepreneur of the Year program), and was awarded the 2018
overall EY Entrepreneur of the Year in the United States.
He is the Founder and Executive Chairman of Uptake Technologies, an
Industrial AI software company delivering insights that increase
productivity and reliability for industrial operators in twenty-one
countries. Uptake is a Technology Pioneer of the World Economic
Forum, was Forbes Startup of the Year in 2015, is a three-time CNBC
Disruptor, a three-time Forbes Cloud 100 member, and was ranked
third on Forbes AI 50 list.
Brad is a founding investor of Tempus AI (NASDAQ:TEM), a leader in
the field of data-driven precision medicine. He is a co-founder of
Groupon (NASDAQ: GRPN), Echo Global Logistics (NASDAQ:ECHO),
MediaOcean (acquired by Vista Equity Partners), Drivin (acquired by
NYSE:KAR), Dough (merged into TastyTrade, acquired by IG Group
(IGG:L)), and a founder of the venture capital firm Lightbank.
Brad is an investor (through Lightbank or personally) in Sprout
Social, Udemy, Fiverr, Reverb, CrowdRise, GoPuff, Benzinga, and
more. He is on the Board of Directors of TKO Group Holdings
(NYSE:TKO -- parent company of UFC and WWE), and previously served
for a decade on the Board of Directors of Equity Residential
(NYSE:EQR), a S&P 500 company.
Brad is the founder of WNDR museum, an immersive art+technology
experience with locations in Chicago, Boston, and San Diego. He is
the Founder and Chairman of Chicago Ideas, one of the largest
city-based ideas platforms. He hosts The Upside, a podcast exploring
the creative process with iconoclastic thinkers and doers.
Brad signed The Giving Pledge in 2015 committing to give the
majority of his wealth to charitable causes. He is the Chairman of
Future Founders, a non-profit providing entrepreneurship education
to students in underserved communities throughout Chicagoland.
Brad is an Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University
of Chicago Booth School of Business. He earned a J.D. cum laude at
the University of Michigan Law School and a BBA with honors from the
University of Michigan School of Business.
