Tech Matters: Using tech for positive social change

I am incredibly excited to let you know that earlier this month we announced that Betsy Beaumon , Benetech’s current president, will be taking over as CEO of Benetech. Betsy is a recognized social entrepreneur who has dedicated much of her career to changing the world with software. Our board and I are looking forward to Betsy leading Benetech to even greater impact. Under Betsy’s guidance, Benetech is developing new software for social good enterprises to connect communities with inclusive technology: Service Net: Reshaping the social safety net in human services to better connect people to the services they need.  Born Accessible: Working with publishers to ensure that any new ebook is accessible to people who read differently - with the goal of one day making Bookshare obsolete.  Connected Civil Society: Applying machine learning and computer vision to document human rights violations and promote accountability in Syria in collaboration with the UN.  Data ...

“Mobilizing for Impact.” That was the theme of the ninth Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Annual Meeting that President Bill Clinton, Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton and Chelsea Clinton recently convened in New York City last month. At CGI Annual Meetings, leaders from across sectors do more than just developing new ideas or getting inspired: they come together to take real action to address pressing global challenges. I had the honor of attending CGI 2013 where I announced Benetech’s latest Commitment to Action . I’ve just had the chance to reflect on how cool CGI 2013 and some of the ideas I’m still processing! President Obama and President Clinton discussing health care reform From the opening “Mobilizing for Impact” panel moderated by President Clinton and featuring Bono, Khalida Brohi, Christine Lagarde, Mo Ibrahim and Sheryl Sandberg (including Bono’s hilarious “Clinton” impersonation, as well as Ibrahim accusing most of corporate attendees of exploiting Africa); to a ...

We have a great addition to our leadership team at Benetech. Betsy Beaumon, formerly of BEA Systems and numerous other high tech roles (including founding her own social enterprise in the 1990s), has joined us as our new Vice President and General Manager of Literacy Programs. The press release on the appointment has much more detail. I'm particularly excited about Benetech's continued strengthening of our management team. Over the past couple of years, the growth of Bookshare has enabled us to bring on managers like Lisa Friendly, John Crossman, Reuben Firmin and Betsy Burgess. That's in addition to longer term Benetech leaders like Patrick Ball, Barbara Morrison, Jane Simchuk and Teresa Throckmorton. Having this kind of managerial bench allows us to take on new enterprises, and deepen and extend the reach of our current projects. For me, this means I can invest more of my time in imagining the future of Benetech. We're in an unusual position this year to still ...