Mark Stevens (venture capitalist)

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Mark Stevens
Stevens in 2017
Born1959 or 1960 (age 63–64)[1]
NationalityAmerican
Alma materUniversity of Southern California
Harvard University
OccupationVenture capitalist
Known forPartner, Sequoia Capital
Board member ofNvidia
SpouseMary Stevens
Children3

Mark Stevens (born 1960) is an American billionaire venture capitalist, and a partner at S-Cubed Capital in Menlo Park, California. He was previously with Intel and Sequoia Capital.[2] He serves on the board of Nvidia,[1] and is an investor in the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association.

Education and career[edit]

Stevens earned bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Southern California, and an MBA from Harvard Business School. During his time at USC, Stevens was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity.[3]

Career[edit]

Stevens joined Intel in 1982, then a mid-sized company about to capitalize on the PC boom. He joined as a technical salesperson and worked in a variety of marketing and sales roles while also earning his master's degree in Computer Engineering from USC.[4][5] He left in 1987 to receive his MBA from Harvard Business School.[5]

In 1989, Stevens became a partner at Sequoia Capital and began to concentrate on semiconductor, software, and systems-related investments. Over the years, he became a rising star on Forbes magazine's Midas List of top 100 venture capitalists, climbing as high as 10th place. He served as a director of at least 12 companies during this time.[6]

Stevens was previously one of the five voting partners at Sequoia Capital who were jointly responsible for some of the high-tech industry's most successful investments: Google, Yahoo!, Nvidia, YouTube, and others. He is the founder of and currently affiliated with S-Cubed capital.[7]

Philanthropy[edit]

In 2004, Stevens and his wife Mary donated $22 million to the University of Southern California and to help found the USC Stevens Institute for Technology Commercialization to advance engineering within the USC Viterbi School of Engineering. It was later renamed USC Stevens Center for Innovation, having expanded its scope to include other disciplines.[citation needed]

In 2015, Stevens and his wife donated $50 million to endow and name the USC Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute.[8][9] The Institute's goal is to enhance knowledge of brain science through the application of imaging and information technologies. In 2017, the Institute received FDA clearance for clinical use of the first seven-Tesla MRI scanner in North America.[10] In 2019, the Institute, along with the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research, announced the addition of more than 108 terabytes of RNA sequencing data to its open access portal associated with the Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative.[11]

Stevens is a member of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering Board of Councilors[12] and, since 2001, the USC Board of Trustees.[13] He previously served on the board of trustees of the Menlo School in Menlo Park, California.[14]

Mark and his wife Mary Stevens are also signers of The Giving Pledge (ttheir pledge page) which was started by Warren Buffet and Bill Gates. They note on their own charitable website that they are just getting started with their giving.

Golden State Warriors[edit]

Stevens became an investor in the Golden State Warriors of the NBA in 2013 by purchasing shares formerly held by Vivek Ranadive.[15][16] He was ejected from Oracle Arena during Game 3 of the 2019 NBA Finals, after an altercation with Kyle Lowry of the Toronto Raptors.[17][18][19] The Warriors, as well as the league, eventually banned Stevens for a year from all games, arenas, and team activities. He was also fined $500,000 for the incident.[20][21] Stevens reached out to Lowry and attempted to directly apologize to him along with other members of the Raptors and Warriors organizations and he expressed gratitude to those who accepted his calls.[22] A 2016 New York Times analysis of the team's value suggested it had more than doubled from Stevens’ 2013 investment.[23]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Forbes profile: Mark Stevens". Forbes. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  2. ^ Stein, Marc (June 6, 2019). "Warriors Minority Owner Barred for a Year After Shoving Toronto's Kyle Lowry". The New York Times. Retrieved October 7, 2019.
  3. ^ "National Leadership Award". 16 April 2019.
  4. ^ "Mark Stevens' Trojan Success Story - USC Trojan Family Magazine". 4 December 2017.
  5. ^ a b "Interview with Mark Stevens, General Partner, Sequoia Capital". socaltech.com. March 30, 2007. Retrieved October 7, 2019.
  6. ^ "Mark Stevens".
  7. ^ "S:Cubed Capital |". Scubedcap.com. Retrieved 2015-10-15.
  8. ^ "$50 million gift names the USC Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute | USC News". News.usc.edu. 25 March 2015. Retrieved 2015-10-15.
  9. ^ "Atherton couple donates $50M to USC brain research project". 25 March 2015.
  10. ^ "Ultra-high-field brain scanner receives FDA approval for clinical use". 30 October 2018.
  11. ^ "Parkinson's database gets massive dose of RNA".
  12. ^ "Leadership". USC Viterbi | School of Engineering. Retrieved 2019-05-23.
  13. ^ "Trustees | Board of Trustees | USC". boardoftrustees.usc.edu. Retrieved 2019-05-23.
  14. ^ "Menlo School". 26 August 2020.
  15. ^ "Mark Stevens Joins Golden State Warriors Ownership Group". NBA.com.
  16. ^ "Report: Golden State Warriors' value has grown to $800 million". 18 August 2013.
  17. ^ Feiner, Lauren (2019-06-06). "Tech investor and part Warriors owner Mark Stevens was the person who shoved Raptors' Kyle Lowry". CNBC. Retrieved 2019-06-06.
  18. ^ Rapp, Timothy. "LeBron James Calls out Warriors Part-Owner Mark Stevens for Kyle Lowry Push". Bleacher Report. Retrieved 2019-06-06.
  19. ^ Stein, Marc (2019-06-06). "Warriors Minority Owner Barred for Shoving Toronto's Kyle Lowry". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-06-06.
  20. ^ Charania, Shams (2019-06-06). "The NBA and Warriors have banned Warriors investor Mark Stevens from NBA games for one year and fined him $500,000 for altercation with Raptors All-Star Kyle Lowry". @ShamsCharania. Archived from the original on June 7, 2019. Retrieved 2019-06-07.
  21. ^ Shelburne, Ramona (2019-06-06). "The NBA AND the Warriors have banned Mark Stevens for 1 year & fined him $500k for shoving Kyle Lowry last night.pic.twitter.com/Csqwi2Lb7Q". @ramonashelburne. Archived from the original on June 7, 2019. Retrieved 2019-06-07.
  22. ^ "Owner apologizes".
  23. ^ Schoenfeld, Bruce (March 30, 2016). "What Happened When Venture Capitalists Took Over the Golden State Warriors". The New York Times. Retrieved October 7, 2019.

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