The Journey of the Entrepreneur
Kim Polese (ClearStreet, Inc., Chairman)
CSE 519 Colloquium
Thursday, May 17, 2012, 3:30pm
EEB-105
Abstract
Ms Polese will discuss her experiences from 25 years in Silicon Valley founding and leading groundbreaking technology projects and software companies. Ms Polese will share stories from the trenches, lessons learned and insights about what it takes for a promising technology to become an innovation that changes the world.
Bio:
Kim Polese is a leading Silicon Valley entrepreneur and innovator. She is currently Chairman of ClearStreet, Inc., a social finance startup focused on helping people eliminate debt and achieve long-term financial health. Prior to ClearStreet, Ms. Polese served as CEO of software company SpikeSource Inc., a pioneer in the automation of open source application management which was acquired by open source software leader Black Duck in November 2010. Prior to SpikeSource, Ms. Polese co-founded Marimba Inc., which developed the first generation of systems-management software for the Internet age, automating the management of software applications and computing resources. Ms. Polese served as President, CEO and Chairman of Marimba, leading the company to profitability and a successful public offering and acquisition by BMC Corporation in 2004. Earlier, Ms. Polese worked at Sun Microsystems where she was the founding product manager for Java and led its launch in 1995. Prior to joining Sun, Ms. Polese worked on expert systems at IntelliCorp Inc., helping Fortune 500 companies apply artificial intelligence to solving complex business challenges. Ms. Polese earned a Bachelor's degree in Biophysics from the University of California, Berkeley and studied Computer Science at the University of Washington, Seattle. She holds an Honorary Doctorate in Business and Economics from California State University. Ms. Polese is the recipient of the 2010 National Center for Women and Information Technology Innovator Award, and in 2011 she was named to President Obama's Innovation Advisory Board which guided the Commerce Department's study of US economic competitiveness, delivering a report with recommendations to Congress in January 2012. Ms. Polese is an Aspen Institute Crown Fellow and serves on several boards including the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, TechNet, the University of California President's Board on Science and Innovation, UC Berkeley's College of Engineering, the Long Now Foundation, the Public Policy Institute of California and the Global Security Institute.