Randall Kaplan

Randall Kaplan (born November 22, 1968) is a U.S.-born serial entrepreneur. He is a co-founder of Akamai Technologies, a global leader in distributing computing solutions and services. Randall is also the owner and Managing Member of CollarCard, LLC, a Los Angeles based promotional products company, and is also the Managing Member of Arbicha, LLC, a Los Angeles based investment firm. Randall is also an active venture investor, having invested in more than 40 early stage companies.

Education

In 1990, Randall graduated from the University of Michigan with Highest Distinction, where he was also one of only 10 students elected to Phi Beta Kappa during his junior year. After graduation, Randall moved to Chicago to attend law school at Northwestern, where he graduated with honors in 1993. After law school, Randall moved to Los Angeles to practice corporate, securities, and tax law for two and a half years.

Work history

In 1996, Randall started his business career where at age 27 he was hired to be the Assistant to the Chairman at SunAmerica. In his capacity at SunAmerica as a Managing Director, Randall worked closely with its then founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Eli Broad and current Chief Executive Officer Jay Wintrob, on mergers and acquisitions and on special projects.

In August 1998, Randall left SunAmerica to co-found Akamai Technologies, the global leader in distributing computing solutions and services.

After leaving Akamai, Randall started JUMP Investors, a Los Angeles-based venture capital and private equity firm that today functions as his family office and investment firm. Since its formation in 1999, JUMP has invested in a variety of real estate companies, private equity funds, hedge funds, and more than 40 early-stage technology companies, including Seagate, Google, and Postini (a leading email outsourcing company purchased by Google in 2007).

Randall is also the owner and Managing Member of CollarCard, LLC, a Los Angeles based promotional products company, and is also the Managing Member of Arbicha, LLC, a Los Angeles based investment firm.

Boards

In addition to serving on the Northwestern Law Board, which he joined at age 31, Randall also serves on the Dean's Advisory Council at the University of Michigan’s College of Literature, Science and the Arts and the board of directors of Arbinet, Inc. (ARBX), UrgentRx, and several other early stage companies.

Awards

In 2006, Northwestern Law School presented Randall with the school’s first Distinguished Entrepreneur Award.

Philanthropy

In 1996, at the age of 27, Randall started The Justice Ball, a charity concert that several years after its formation became one of the country’s largest under-40 fundraisers in the country and one of the leading philanthropic events in Los Angeles. In the past 14 years, Berlin, Billy Idol, The B-52’s, Macy Gray, Sugar Ray, the Go-Go’s, The Psychedelic Furs and other leading acts have performed at The Justice Ball, helping it attract more than 25,000 attendees and raise more than $5.5 million. For 10 years Randall served on the board of Bet Tzedek Legal Services – the beneficiary of The Justice Ball – a non-profit public interest law firm that provides free legal services annually to more than 12,000 poor, sick, elderly, and homeless residents of Los Angeles County.

In addition to his philanthropic efforts through The Justice Ball, Randall established the Julia Eder Dean’s Scholarship at the University of Michigan in honor of his grandmother – an all-expenses, all-tuition scholarship for a student who, like Randall’s grandmother, was raised in foster care. In addition to this scholarship, Randall has also endowed a permanent full-tuition, need-based scholarship at the University of Michigan.

Public speaking

Randall has been a guest lecturer at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern Law School, UCLA's Anderson School of Management, and the USC's Marshall School of Business.