Press Release

Computer History Museum’s Exponential Center Names Leading Author & Journalist Sebastian Mallaby as Distinguished Scholar

Mountain View, CA  |  September 11, 2018

The Computer History Museum (CHM), the world's leading institution exploring the history of computing and its ongoing impact on society, today announced the appointment of award-winning journalist and public speaker Sebastian Mallaby as distinguished scholar of its Exponential Center, the first museum center dedicated to preserving the legacy and advancing the future of entrepreneurship and innovation in Silicon Valley and around the world.

Mallaby is the inaugural distinguished scholar named to the Museum’s Exponential Center. The prestigious program seeks to support scholarship and academic research around the history of entrepreneurship in Silicon Valley, company building, venture capital, and contemporary ecosystem development across the globe. During the one-year visiting appointment, Mallaby will conduct original research grounded by the Museum’s extensive archives, which includes early business plans and founding documents from key companies and a major and growing collection of oral histories of pioneering venture capitalists. His resulting book on the history of venture capital will be published in the United States and the United Kingdom by Penguin and by others in translation. The book will explore stories of venture capital’s evolution as well as its impact on prosperity and US economic growth.

Exponential Center Executive Director Marguerite Gong Hancock says, “The distinguished scholar program at the Exponential Center provides an opportunity for thought leaders to advance and share their work on critical topics related to innovation and entrepreneurship. Sebastian Mallaby’s authoritative work on venture capital will add scholarship on this important and high impact form of finance.” As an Exponential Distinguished Scholar, Mallaby will speak about his work at CHM as well as share his expertise in conducting new oral histories with key venture capitalists.

Sebastian Mallaby is the Paul A. Volcker senior fellow for international economics at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and is also a contributing columnist for the Washington Post, where he previously served as a staff columnist and editorial board member. He is the author of The Man Who Knew: The Life & Times of Alan Greenspan, winner of the 2016 Financial Times/McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award and the 2017 George S. Eccles Prize in Economic Writing. His writing has also appeared in the Atlantic and the Financial Times, where he spent two years as a contributing editor.

“It’s an honor to join the Exponential Center at the Computer History Museum,” said Mallaby. “Through my continuing research, I hope to show the contribution and impact of venture capital in history and Silicon Valley, as well as its role in creating and changing ecosystems throughout the world.”

Mallaby was educated at Oxford, graduating in 1986 with a first class degree in modern history. After 18 years in Washington DC, he moved to London in 2014, where he lives with his wife, Zanny Minton Beddoes, editor in chief of the Economist.

About the Computer History Museum

The Computer History Museum (CHM) in Mountain View, California, is a nonprofit organization with a four-decade history as the world's leading institution exploring the history of computing and its ongoing impact on society. The Museum is home to the largest international collection of computing artifacts in the world, encompassing computer hardware, software, documentation, ephemera, photographs, and moving images. The Museum brings computer history to life through large-scale exhibits, an acclaimed speaker series, a dynamic website, docent-led tours, and an award-winning education program. For more information and updates visit computerhistory.org.

PRESS CONTACTS:

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(650) 810-1059

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