Stephen Stokols

Stephen Stokols
Citizenship American
Education University of California, Berkeley
London Business School
Occupation Entrepreneur, investor
Title CEO of FreedomPop

Stephen Stokols is an American entrepreneur, technologist, investor and executive located in Los Angeles, California.[1] Stokols currently serves as the CEO of FreedomPop, the company he co-founded in August 2012 with Skype Founder Niklas Zennström.[1]

Career

As CEO of FreedomPop, Stokols has raised over $109 million in venture capital and grown the company to over 100 employees.[2][3] In 2015, Stokols expanded FreedomPop’s free mobile service internationally.[4] In early 2016, Stokols closed a $50 million Series C financing for FreedomPop and launched a Global Hotspot with free mobile data in over 25 countries.[5] In 2017, Stokols turned down a merger and acquisition offer for FreedomPop, worth as much as $450 million.[2]

Before FreedomPop, Stokols was the CEO of Woo Media, until its sale to Zoosk in November 2011.[2] The idea for Woo Media was spurred by his sister's experience with speed dating.[6] Stokols immediately saw an opportunity for an online speed dating website leveraging new web based video technologies and created WooMe.[7] Over four years, Stokols grew Woo Media into an online media group, incorporating several online communication channels. Under his leadership, Stokols grew Woo Media to over 10 million users until it was sold to Zoosk in 2011.[8]

Prior to the creation of Woo Media, Stokols represented the BT Group as BT's Vice President of Strategy and Business Development in London. Before moving to BT Group, Stokols was the Director of Commerce at Qwest Communications. Stokols also worked for CMGI where he focused on positioning AltaVista for its sale to Yahoo!. Stokols is also a member of the Founders Pledge.[9]

Stephen was also the Vice President of Product at Boingo Wireless where he was also credited with releasing an iPhone app with personal VPN and free global hotspots. [10]

Stephen is also an active investor in technology companies,including villiger where he teamed up celeb actor Walton Goggins.[11]

Education and honors

Stokols received his MBA from UC Berkeley, Haas School of Business in 2002. During this time, Stokols attained two significant fellowships: Haas Venture Capital Fellowship in 2001 and the Price Center Fellowship in 2000. Stokols then attended the London Business School from where he received his Masters of Finance degree in 2007.

Stokols received the Wireless Week Leadership award in 2014.[12]

References

  1. 1 2 "Skype Founder's New Startup, FreedomPop, Picks CEO". Bloomberg News. 16 August 2012. Retrieved 16 August 2012.
  2. 1 2 3 Dave, Paresh (25 August 2017). "1 million people pay nothing for cellphone service, so how does FreedomPop make money?". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 27 August 2017.
  3. ↑ "FreedomPop pockets $50M, launches global hot spot with free data". rcrwireless.com. Retrieved 20 January 2016.
  4. ↑ "Freedompop launches in the uk intros free and 19month iphone only plans in us". techcrunch.com. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  5. ↑ Fried, Ina (20 January 2016). "FreedomPop Raises Another $50 Million to Offer Cheap Global Roaming for World Travelers". Recode. Retrieved 20 January 2016.
  6. ↑ "Stephen Stokols, co-Founder And CEO Of WooMe". Online Personals Watch. July 20, 2010. Retrieved June 19, 2011.
  7. ↑ "Interview with Stephen Stokols, WooMe". SocalTech.com. November 6, 2007. Retrieved June 19, 2011.
  8. ↑ "Woo Media Sold to Zoosk". SocalTech.com. November 4, 2011. Retrieved November 30, 2011.
  9. ↑ "The Founders Pledge". Thefounderspledge. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  10. ↑ "Boingo Releases Latest iOS Wi-Fi App with Personal VPN and Free Hotspots".
  11. ↑ "It takes a Villiger:Actor Walton Goggins launches parenting app". L.A. Biz. Retrieved 14 December 2017.
  12. ↑ "Wireless Week's Leadership Awards Recognize T-Mobile, Sprint, Verizon, AT&T, FreedomPop". AdvantageMedia. Retrieved 15 November 2015.


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