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Jimmy Wales Biography
Ranked by Forbes Magazine as a “Web Celeb”, Jimmy Donal Wales is a U.S. Internet entrepreneur, wiki pioneer, and technology visionary, who is best known as the Founder of Wikipedia, an international collaborative free content encyclopedia on the Internet, and the Wikimedia Foundation. He is co-founder of Wikia, a privately owned free web hosting service he set up in 2004.
Background and career
The origins of Wikipedia began in March 2000, when Mr. Wales started Nupedia (“the free encyclopedia”), which was characterized by an extensive peer-review process designed to make its articles of a quality comparable to that of professional encyclopedias. With the addition of wikis (a collection of web pages designed to enable anyone who accesses it to contribute or modify content), the project was dubbed “Wikipedia.” Mr. Wales laid down the founding principles and content, establishing an Internet-based community of contributors during that year. Wikipedia was initially intended to be a wiki-based site for collaboration on early encyclopedic content for submission to Nupedia, but Wikipedia's rapid growth quickly overshadowed Nupedia's development.
In a 2004 interview with Slashdot, Mr. Wales explained his motivations about Wikipedia, “Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge. That's what we're doing.”
The success of the project has helped popularize a trend in web development (called Web 2.0) that aims to facilitate creativity, collaboration, and sharing among users. As Wikipedia expanded and its public profile grew, Mr. Wales took on the role of the project's spokesperson and promoter through speaking engagements and media appearances. His work with Wikipedia, which has become the world's largest encyclopedia, prompted TIME Magazine to name him one of its “100 Most Influential People,” in 2006 in the “Scientists & Thinkers” category.
In 2003, Mr. Wales founded the Wikimedia Foundation, a nonprofit charitable organization dedicated to encouraging the growth, development and distribution of free, multilingual content, and to providing the full content of these wiki-based projects to the public free of charge. The Wikimedia Foundation operates some of the largest collaboratively edited reference projects in the world, including Wikipedia, the 5th most popular website in the world.
In 2004, Wales co-founded, with Angela Beesley, the for-profit company Wikia, Inc. Wikia is a wiki farm – a collection of individual wikis on different subjects, all hosted on the same website. As part of his work at Wikia, Inc., Mr. Wales is developing a human-powered search engine, Search Wikia, which will be based on the same open, transparent, community-driven principles of Wikia and Wikipedia.
The World Economic Forum recognized Wales as one of the “Young Global Leaders” of 2007. This prestigious award acknowledges the top 250 young leaders across the world for their professional accomplishments, their commitment to society, and their potential to contribute to shaping the future of the world.
Mr. Wales is a Fellow of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School. He serves on the Board of Directors of Socialtext, a provider of wiki technology to businesses and the non-profit organization Creative Commons. Mr. Wales has received an honorary doctorate from Knox College of Illinois and was presented with a Pioneer Award from the Electronic Frontier Foundation in 2006.
Mr. Wales received his bachelor's degree in finance from Auburn University and started with the Ph.D. finance program at the University of Alabama, where he left with a Master's. After that, he took courses offered in the Ph.D. finance program at Indiana University. He taught at both universities during his postgraduate studies, but did not write the doctoral dissertation required to earn a Ph.D.
From 1994 to 2000, Wales was the research director at Chicago Options Associates, a futures and options trading firm in Chicago.
Speaking Topics
Wikipedia founder, U.S. Internet Entrepreneur and Wiki Pioneer. One of TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People.
- Entrepreneur
- Technology
- Internet
For further information or to book Jimmy Wales, call us at Speakers Corner on +44 (0) 20 8365 3200 or email info@speakerscorner.co.uk
Jimmy Wales News
A selection of relevant news related to Jimmy Wales, Keynote Speakers, Business Speakers, Innovation Speakers, International Speakers, Social Media Speakers and Technology Speakers stories. For more information on Jimmy Wales or details as to how to book Jimmy Wales for your corporate event, please contact one of the Speakers Corner booking agents on +44 (0)20 7607 7070 or email info@speakerscorner.co.uk
Apple’s Jonathan Ive leads Wired Top 100
29th May 2012
Apple’s Jonathan Ive leads Wired Magazine’s top UK digital influences. The Senior Vice-President of Industrial Design for Apple, has “changed our relationship with technology,” according to Wired.
Top Speakers Corner Talent at TED Global
14th July 2011
Speakers Corner’s varied and rich catalogue of unique and inspirational personalities is well represented at this year’s TED Global Summer conference in Edinburgh. Speakers in the Scottish capital include Nic Marks - Founder of the award winning centre for well-being; author and thinker Charles Leadbeater; percussionist Evelyn Glennie and TV scientist Brian Cox.
The Apprentice Returns for 2013
8th May 2013
The 2013 series of The Apprentice has begun and Lord Alan Sugar had this year’s hopefuls selling a host of items including toilet roll, high visibility jackets and Chinese lucky cat statuettes.
Self-Help Books; A Billion Dollar Industry
30th April 2013
Self-help books are increasingly popular among the British public than ever before and an increased number of us are turning to self help books in the hope that they will solve lives problems.
Danny Cohen Appointed Director of BBC Television
25th April 2013
It has been announced that BBC One Controller, Danny Cohen has been appointed as Director of BBC Television.
Google Glasses are Next Phase of Technology
22nd April 2013
Google are set to release the Explorer Edition of the Google Glass headset and hope to have the eyewear in the hands of programmers before the next I/O conference.
Mike Forde Links Business to Football
18th April 2013
Business speaker and one of the UK’s leading sports executives, Mike Forde has compared the ideas and practices used in professional football to those used in business environments.
Willie Harcourt Cooze Releases New Chocolate Range
16th April 2013
Entrepreneur and star of Channel 4 show ‘Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory’, Willie Harcourt Cooze, has recently released a new range of chocolate desserts and gifts, which are now available all over the UK.
Sir Terry Leahy Adjusts to Life After Tesco
11th April 2013
Business speaker and former CEO of Tesco, Sir Terry Leahy stepped down from his position at Tesco in 2011 at the age of 55, he has since started working with several charities, invested in small businesses and written a book.
The 2013 ‘Women in the World Summit' Takes Place
10th April 2013
The Daily Beast’s annual ‘Women in the World Summit' took place this week; launched by the publications editor-in-chief, Tina Brown, in March 2010.
Jimmy Wales Reviews
Jimmy Wales has spoken and appeared at a number of recent corporate events. Please find some client speaker testimonials and reviews for Jimmy Wales for a number of these events and conferences. If you would like some additional information as to how to book Jimmy Wales for your corporate event, then please contact one of the Speakers Corner booking agents on +44 (0)20 7607 7070 or email info@speakerscorner.co.uk
He was an amazing speaker, a complete delight to work with and extraordinarily generous with his time. His remarks were very relevant for the audience, his style was very engaging. He was a hit!
For further information or to book Jimmy Wales, call us on +44 (0)20 7607 7070 or email info@speakerscorner.co.uk
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