Monday Keynote - John Gage - Chief Researcher and VP for Sun Microsystems

John Gage is Chief Researcher and Vice President of the Science Office for Sun Microsystems, an international information technology company based in California.  He was one of the founders of Sun, in 1982, when a group of students and professors from Stanford and the University of California, Berkeley joined to create open systems in hardware and software.

He has served on the Boards of Trustees of the United States National Library of Medicine, FermiLabs, the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute, NetDay, Schools OnLine, United States National Research Council, the Internet Society (ISOC) and other scientific and educational groups.

He serves on the Markle Foundation Task Force on National Security, the Board of Advisors of the United States Institute of Peace, the National Academy of Sciences, and the International Advisory Board of the Malaysian Multimedia Corridor.

He attended the University of California, Berkeley, Harvard Business School, and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

Among his responsibilities, Dr. Badshah manages Microsoft Unlimited Potential (UP), a global program to promote digital inclusion and increased access to technology skills training in underserved communities.

Microsoft’s UP program is designed to help narrow the technology skills gap; aid global work-force development; and create social and economic opportunity by providing technology skills through community technology centers (CTCs).  UP offers a comprehensive approach to broadening digital inclusion by bringing together critical components, including training grants, software donations, community learning curricula and a global support network called telecentre.org.

Microsoft is working to broaden digital inclusion and to bring the benefits of technology and technology skills to one quarter of a billion people by 2010. 

Since the UP program launched in May 2003, more than $200 million in cash, software and curriculum has been donated to projects in more than 100 countries.

Dr. Badshah also oversees programs aimed at improving technology access and helping nonprofit organizations improve their effectiveness through increased technology capacity. This includes Microsoft’s signature relationships with organizations such as Boys & Girls Clubs of America and NPower

Prior to joining Microsoft, Dr. Badshah was the CEO and president of Digital Partners Foundation, a Seattle-area nonprofit organization whose mission is to utilize the digital economy to benefit the poor. At Digital Partners, he established the organization’s core programs in India, Africa and Latin America. His work included development of the Digital Partners Social Venture Fund, designed to support the expansion of IT-based anti-poverty efforts around the world, and the Digital Partners Social Enterprise Laboratory (SEL), an initiative that provides mentorship and seed money to entrepreneurs whose vision and business models use ICT to empower the poor and their underserved communities. 

Dr. Badshah is a Board Member of the Global Knowledge Partnership and The Indus Entrepreneurs. He also serves on the Advisory Boards of the following organizations: World Affairs Council, Santa Clara University Center for Science Technology and Society, University of Washington South Asia Center, and University of Washington Business School.  He has co-edited “Connected for Development – Information Kiosks for Sustainability,” and authored “Our Urban Future: New Paradigms for Equity and Sustainability” and several articles in international journals on ICT4D, megacities and sustainability, urban and community development, and housing.

Dr. Badshah is a doctoral graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the former president of the Lambda Alpha International New Jersey Chapter, an honorary land economic society. He is very active in the Seattle area community and serves on various local committees.