Jim Hake

Jim Hake received a B.A. in economics from Dartmouth College and an MBA from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.[1]

While a graduate student at SGBS, Hake founded the "Friends of Arjay Miller Eleventh Percent Club" (FOAM) in 1983.[2]

Jim Hake worked as an Internet entrepreneur in Silicon Valley during the Internet boom of the 1990s.[3] He founded Access Media with Frank Crivello in the early 1990s,[4] which was one of the first Internet media companies.[5] He sold the company to SoftBank in 1996.[6] Hake also was the founder and chairman of the Global Information Infrastructure Awards[7] in 1994, which he also sold to SoftBank, in 1997.[8] He later founded one of the early mobile apps companies.[9] The World Economic Forum named him a "Technology Pioneer" in 2000 and 2001.[1]

With the funds from his businesses,[10] Hake founded Spirit of America,[11] where he serves as the CEO. He founded the group in 2003 in response to the 9-11 Attacks, as a charity working to improve or sustain a positive image of the United States abroad,[12] and aid the US military through philanthropic means.[13][14] Using a venture capital response model,[15] Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal has described the organization and Hake’s work as a “philanthropic rapid response team.”[16] As of 2014, the group had executed projects in 32 countries. To date, projects have included providing veterinary training in Africa, clothing to Northern Iraq, equipment to police in Afghanistan,[12] developing free radio in Syria,[3] and school building in the Ukraine.[17]

Jim Hake is the author of the books 101 Ways to Help the Cause in Afghanistan[18] and A Model for Connecting Civilians and the Military in Warriors and Citizens: American Views of our Military.[19] He is also a member of the Council of Foreign Relations.[20]