Apr
27
Ken Eldred
Founder, Ariba Technologies, InMac, MySoftware Co, and Norm Thompson Outfitters
Founder and CEO, Living Stones Foundation
Ken Eldred has founded many successful companies including Ariba Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARBA), the leader in the internet Business-to-Business industry, which reached a market valuation of $40 Billion. He was Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Inmac, which went public in 1987 and grew to $400 million in annual revenues as the first business to sell computer products, supplies, and accessories by direct mail and which later merged with MicroWarehouse.
Mr. Eldred also helped found and is on the board of advisors at Crosspoint Venture Partners, a leading venture capital firm in the United States (Ariba, Brocade, Foundry Networks, Juniper Networks, among others), which has a capital base greater than $1 billion. He has founded several other companies, including Mysoftware Co. and Norm Thompson Outfitters, Inc., a direct mail, consumer specialty retailer. In 1988 he was named Retail Entrepreneur of the Year for the San Francisco Bay Area by the Institute of American Entrepreneurs. He currently serves as Chairman of Parakletos @ Ventures, a Venture Capital firm focused on investing in telecommunications infrastructure and business-to-business services in the US and Asia.
Mr. Eldred currently focuses primarily on charitable projects and providing services to Christian organizations as a board member or as independent advisor. He is the Founder and CEO of Living Stones Foundation Charitable Trust, a public support organization with approximately $100 million in assets for the purposes of supporting Christian work and charity around the world. He is also an elder at Yoido Full Gospel Church in Seoul, South Korea, the world’s largest church led by Pastor David Yonggi Cho with over 880,000 members.
He is Chairman of the Kingdom Business Forum and a ministry partner along with Louis Palau Evangelical Association. Mr. Eldred is a visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institute at Stanford University. Ten years ago he started and still leads a weekly Bible study for business leaders in Silicon Valley. Mr. Eldred is formerly a board member of The Sentinel Group; an international Christian ministry based in the US and has also served on the Board of Trustees for Regent University, where he served on the Executive Committee.
Ken Eldred was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay area of California. He graduated from Stanford University in California with an undergraduate degree in Political Science and a Masters in Business Administration. He also has a doctorates degree in law from Belhaven University.
Mr.Eldred, 60 and his wife Roberta have three sons and divide their time between their home in Silicon Valley, California, and their ranch in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. He enjoys horseback riding, hunting, water skiing and snow skiing.