FIRST & Fortune's 400 Billionaires
 

Fortune just came out with their annual 400 Richest Americans List.

I was struck by how many of them had a pretty solid connection to FIRST.

Here are 5 without even thinking hard:

#12 Sergey Brin
#13 Larry E Page
#70 Jeffrey P Bezos
#140 John E Abele
#374 L John Doerr

Beyond the obvious connection to Abele, FIRST's Chairman, each of these guys have actually spoken at the Championship at one time or another. So the connection is pretty strong.

I am sure that there are more connections (perhaps Bill Gates? How about DeVos? Steve Jobs?)

If you can make a connection to these folks and FIRST, let's hear it.

Joe J.

Re: FIRST & Fortune's 400 Billionaires
 

Dean Knows Steve Jobs, he met him while trying to find inveters for the Segway, I don't know if Jobs has directly supported FIRST but The Woz was a judge in Boston and obviously has ties to Jobs

Re: FIRST & Fortune's 400 Billionaires
 

William Cook , #80 on this list, has supported a team in Indiana, 1272, Tyrannikal Mechanikal. I'm not sure what his level of activity is currently. Hopefully, he still has interest in FIRST.

Andy B.

Re: FIRST & Fortune's 400 Billionaires
 

Had ties you mean? Woz isn't exactly Job's biggest fan.

Jobs was very involved with Ginger, so I assume being around Dean that much would mean that Jobs must at least know about FIRST. I mean DK's biggest problem with stories is that they focus far too much about him and far too little about FIRST, which leads me to think he likes to talk about it a lot.

Re: FIRST & Fortune's 400 Billionaires
 

Steve Jobs reminds me that Wozniack was a judge at the LV regional. On another note, How is DeVos connected to FIRST(just wondering)?

Re: FIRST & Fortune's 400 Billionaires
 

Not FIRST related, but this one struck me as funny:

I'm envisioning little bitty Pringles ...

Re: FIRST & Fortune's 400 Billionaires
 

Hahah. I just thought it was weird someone made money on potatoes .. and technology. I didn't even make the chip/potato connection -- nice.

Re: FIRST & Fortune's 400 Billionaires
 

Either Wozniak or Jobs was a sponsor of the now defunct team 972.

Wozniak has judged at west coast regionals for at least 3 or 4 years now.

Frederick Wallace Smith (FedEx)

Re: FIRST & Fortune's 400 Billionaires
 

I am not saying he IS connected but it would not surprise me because DeVos is part of the Amyway fortune and they are huge over near the Grand Rapids area. AND... ...Grand Rapids, MI is a hotbed of FIRST activity -- If I recall, at one point the nearby town of Holland had more willing sponsors than they had high schools.. But... ...I am just speculating. Anybody from Grand Rapids way know of any FIRST connection to DeVos?

Joe J.

Re: FIRST & Fortune's 400 Billionaires
 

Speaking of Billionaires that are likely to support FIRST, has anybody tried to get this guy involved?

#64 James H Simons

I have never heard about him until this article came up on reddit.com
PUTTING HIS MONEY WHERE HIS MATH IS

From the article, it is clear that if he knew about FIRST, he's likely to become a supporter. Look at this quote from the final paragraph of the article:

Reminds me of Dean.

Now how do we get to this guy????

Joe J.

Re: FIRST & Fortune's 400 Billionaires
 

Simons is on the radar of the local Regional Committee. Several business leaders are assigned to getting him on-board in some capacity with FIRST.

We can only hope.

Re: FIRST & Fortune's 400 Billionaires
 

Sounds great. Is anybody from the Western Michigan regional working on DeVos?

I would think that each regional commitee should take a look at this Map and see if they can get their local billionaire to the regional one way or another.

Joe J.

Re: FIRST & Fortune's 400 Billionaires
 

I can't be postive that this is the case, and my roomate who was up there with me isn't postive either, but I'm like 85-90% percent postive that Devos was at the Western Michigan Regional at Grand Valley State University and spoke Saturday morning. I don't know though if he's helping to support any of the local teams or not though.

Andrea

Re: FIRST & Fortune's 400 Billionaires
 

I believe DeVos used to own the Grand Center where the W MI Regional was held until the building was torn down and the regional was moved to GVSU.

Re: FIRST & Fortune's 400 Billionaires
 

Woz also has been a judge at the Championship at least twice, maybe more. He's just so much a techhead, I don't think he can help it when opportunities like FIRST come along. (Segway Polo, anyone?)

Re: FIRST & Fortune's 400 Billionaires
 

No, the Grand Center, formerly called the Civic Auditorium, was/is owned by the City. I didn't realize the WMR was held there - that would have been an awesome venue for watching the competition.

The concert hall built ~24 years ago (I was in the choir for the dedication - am I that old?) is named for DeVos (not the gov candidate, but his father) because of his contributions and fundraising.

Amway does own the hotel ("Amway Grand", duh) across the street, both the old former Pantlind and the "new" tower - new meaning 20+ years.

Re: FIRST & Fortune's 400 Billionaires
 

If billionaires like DeVos offer some help in the infrastructure and the overall system of FIRST, we would benefit more than any amount of money they can offer. I read somewhere that Microsoft has created the highest amount of millionaires around the world and Alticore has created the second most. With the growth FIRST is experiencing right now, it is vital for us to seek more help from successful figures.

Re: FIRST & Fortune's 400 Billionaires
 

Mr. DeVos did come to the West Michigan regional last year. He seemed to enjoy the event and spoke briefly to the crowd. As far as I know that was his first involvement in FIRST. Of course, at the moment he's concentrating more on running for Governor than his roles as businessman and philanthropist.

Re: FIRST & Fortune's 400 Billionaires
 

Apple did donate Filemaker Pro in 2003(?). But other than that, I don't see any other evidence.