Ron Conway

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Ronald Crawford "Ron" Conway (born March 9, 1951) is an American angel investor and philanthropist, often described as one of Silicon Valley's "super angels". Conway is recognized as a politically-connected philanthropist, strong networker and savvy business investor.

The San Francisco Chronicle called Conway a visionary: "an angel investor whose savvy and instincts helped myriad startups get off the ground, and his early-stage investments include Google, Ask Jeeves and PayPal. He has been no less ambitious and prescient in identifying and funding civic and philanthropic causes that need a boost."

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Early career

Conway graduated from San Jose State University with a bachelor's degree in Political Science.

Conway knew little about technology on his first entry to the business, but became a very influential tech investor. Conway worked with National Semiconductor Corporation in marketing positions from 1973 to 1979, and at Altos Computer Systems as President and CEO from 1988 to 1990. He was the CEO of Personal Training Systems (PTS) from 1991 to 1995. PTS was acquired by SmartForce/SkillSoft.

Maps Ron Conway

Investing

As founder and Managing Partner of the Angel Investors LP funds, he was an early stage investor in Google, Ask Jeeves and PayPal. He began investing independently in 2005, and by 2006 had achieved sixth place in the Forbes magazine Midas list of top "dealmakers". [source needed]

Some Valley observers, notably VentureBeat, have been critical of Ron Conway for his investments during the Internet boom, believing them to be "symbolic of the era's hubris." Conway developed a reputation for throwing lavish cocktail parties and raising cash from a diverse group of celebrities, sportspeople, and political figures such as Henry Kissinger, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tiger Woods, and Shaquille O'Neal, which he then ploughed into start-ups.

List of investments

Among Conway's investments are:

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Philanthropy

Civic and Public Health

Conway is active in community and philanthropic activities, serving as Vice Chairman of UCSF Medical Foundation in San Francisco and also as co-chair of the "Fight for Mike" Homer and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. He is on the development committees of UCLA, St. Francis High School, Sacred Heart Schools, The UCSF Medical Center in San Francisco, Packard Children's Hospital, Legacy Ventures, and Ronald McDonald House at Stanford. He serves on the Benefit Committee of the Tiger Woods Foundation. In January 2015, Ron Conway and his family donated $40 million to the UCSF Medical Center to fund the Outpatient Medical Building, which will be named after the Ron Conway Family .

Homelessness

Conway has a long history of philanthropy and charity to organizations combatting homelessness, especially in San Francisco. He helped found and fund Project Homeless Connect under former San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom . More recently, Conway spearheaded a drive to raise $5 million to help build 101 units of new housing for formerly homeless veterans in San Francisco and is partnering with Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff to raise $10 million from fellow technology philanthropists on a three-year plan to end chronic family homelessness in San Francisco. Conway contributed $1 million of his own money towards this initiative, "another reminder that this legendary angel investor has emerged as an active philanthropist with significant resources to deploy (he's also very close to Benioff).

Gun Violence

Conway is on the advisory board of Sandy Hook Promise, a nonprofit organization founded by the parents of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

Conway is also donates to support the San Francisco Police Department's FUTURE GRADS program to help at-risk San Francisco youth gain valuable early job experience and life skills through paid summer internships with technology and other companies

Ron Conway thinks Silicon Valley needs to have its 'eyes wide open ...

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Politics

Conway was the single largest campaign solicitor for Edwin M. Lee in his successful campaign for Mayor of San Francisco in November 2011; Conway raised $600,000 for Lee through independent expenditure committees. Since then questions have been raised about whether Lee has taken actions to benefit companies in which Conway has investments.

Conway has also been a strong supporter of State Senator Scott Wiener, Assemblyman David Chiu, Supervisor Mark Farrell, Board of Supervisors President London Breed and U.S. Senator Kamala Harris .

In 2014 Conway, along with fellow Airbnb investor Reid Hoffman, donated a total of $685,000 to independent expenditure efforts in support of David Chiu's tightly fought Assembly campaign against former San Francisco supervisor and 2015 Prop F supporter David Campos.

In April 2013, a lobbying group called FWD.us (aimed at lobbying for immigration reform and improvements to education) was launched, with Ron Conway listed as one of the supporters.

In 2012 Conway founded the San Francisco Citizens Initiative for Technology and Innovation, or sf.citi, a 501(c)6 non-profit organization that advocates for the technology community and is involved in a number of public initiatives, and private/public partnerships involving tech companies partnering with public agencies such as the San Francisco Health Dept., the Office of Emergency Management, the police dept., and the school district.

Conway has also been a consistent opponent of the four members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors who voted in 2012 to reinstate former Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi, who was convicted of domestic abuse in 2012 and failed to win re-election in 2015. Conway funded successful independent expenditure campaigns to defeat former Supervisor Christina Olague in 2012, former Supervisor David Campos in 2014, and against Supervisor Jane Kim in 2016 in her failed bid to win election to the California State Senate .