FIRST & Fortune's 400 Billionaires

[Joe Johnson]

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.

[JamesBrown]

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

[Andy Baker]

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.

[Ian Curtis]

Originally Posted by JamesBrown

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

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.

[Bharat Nain]

Originally Posted by Joe Johnson

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.

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

[GaryVoshol]

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

80 John Richard Simplot & family 3.2 97 Boise, ID potatoes, microchips

I'm envisioning little bitty Pringles ...

[Brandon Martus]

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

[Cory]

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)

[Joe Johnson]

Originally Posted by Bharat Nain

...How is DeVos connected to FIRST(just wondering)?

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.

[Joe Johnson]

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:

His insouciance reminded me of something his friend Shelly Wenig had said: "Here's a guy with the privilege of doing anything he wants, and he chooses to do the tough one."

Reminds me of Dean.

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

Joe J.

[Mark McLeod]

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.

[Joe Johnson]

Originally Posted by Mark McLeod

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.

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.

[Luckyfish05]

Originally Posted by Joe Johnson

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

Joe J.

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

[josh s]

Originally Posted by Bharat Nain

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

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.

[Bill Moore]

Originally Posted by Cory

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)

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?)