Our Founders

Jody Allen

Jody Allen is co-founder, board chair, and president of the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation. She is chair of Vale Group (formerly known as Vulcan), which she co-founded with brother Paul G. Allen in 1986, founding director of MoPOP, and co-founder and chair of the board of the Allen Institute, and serves on the board of the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence (AI2). As trustee of the Paul G. Allen Trust, she works to ensure Paul's vision is realized for generations to come.

She also serves as chair of the Seattle Seahawks NFL and Portland Trail Blazers NBA franchises, recognizing the role of both teams as catalysts for civic pride. Allen is a philanthropist passionate about conservation, fighting wildlife trafficking, and saving Africa’s elephants from extinction. In 2016 she founded Wild Lives Foundation, and she also serves on the board of Sealife Response, Rehab and Research (SR3), an organization dedicated to improving the health and welfare of marine wildlife in the Pacific Northwest.

Deeply committed to education and the arts, Jody is a board member of the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town, and previously served on the boards of ArtsFund, the University of Washington Foundation, the Museum of Glass, the Los Angeles International Film Festival, and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

Paul G. Allen

Entrepreneur and philanthropist Paul G. Allen worked to save endangered species, slow climate change, improve ocean health, share art, history and film, develop new technology, tackle epidemics, research how the human brain works and build sustainable communities. In all his endeavors, he constantly asked "What if?" and pushed people to challenge conventional thinking, collaborate across disciplines and reimagine what is possible. Learn more at PaulAllen.com