About the Institute Founder & Thought Partner
Tech entrepreneur and philanthropist Paul English ’87, G’89, H’19, who earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in computer science at UMass Boston, conceived of the institute and committed $5 million to establish it at the university, along with an associated scholarship fund.
English is the founder or co-founder of several technology companies, including Boston Venture Studio, Deets, Kayak, Moonbeam, Reki, Xiangqi.com, FunContact, Lola, GetHuman, Boston Light and Intermute. He has also co-founded several non-profit organizations, including Embrace Boston, Summits Education in Haiti, Winter Walk for Homelessness and the Bipolar Social Club. His many speaking and media engagements include a TEDx Talk and an appearance on "How I Built This" with Guy Raz on NPR.