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Gilman Louie

{{Short description|American video game designer and venture capitalist (born 1960)}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Gilman Louie

| image = Gilman Louie 2008.jpg

| alt = Right profile photo of Louie taken on August 1, 2007

| caption = Louie in 2008

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1960}}

| birth_place = San Francisco, California, U.S.

| education = San Francisco State University (BSBA)

| occupation = Venture capitalist, former video game designer

| known_for = CEO of Spectrum Holobyte, co-founder and CEO of In-Q-Tel

}}

Gilman Louie (born 1960) is an American technology venture capitalist who started as a video game designer and then co-founded and ran the CIA venture capital fund In-Q-Tel.{{cite web|url=http://www.alsop-louie.com/about |title=Alsop-Louie Partners FAQ|publisher=Alsop-Louie Partners|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110112172729/http://www.alsop-louie.com/about |archivedate=January 12, 2011 }} With his company Nexa Corporation he designed and developed multiple computer games such as the F-16 Fighting Falcon flight simulator series. His company later merged with Spectrum Holobyte where he was CEO until its acquisition by Hasbro, after which he became Chief Creative Officer and General Manager of its Games.com group. He has been on a number of boards of directors, including Wizards of the Coast, Niantic, Total Entertainment Network, FASA Interactive, Wickr, Aerospike, the Chinese American International School, Markle Foundation, Digital Promise, and Maxar Technologies. He is chairman of the Federation of American Scientists and Vricon.{{Cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/giovannirodriguez/2017/11/14/meet-the-vc-who-sees-a-better-world-in-3d-gilman-louie/|title=Meet The VC Who's Betting On A Better World In 3D: Gilman Louie|last=Rodriguez|first=Giovanni|website=Forbes|language=en|access-date=2020-02-11}} He is a member of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board and the U.S. Department of State’s Foreign Affairs Policy Board.{{Cite web |title=Secretary Blinken Selects Members of the Foreign Affairs Policy Board |url=https://www.state.gov/secretary-blinken-selects-members-of-the-foreign-affairs-policy-board/ |access-date=2023-09-19 |website=United States Department of State |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=House |first=The White |date=2022-05-04 |title=President Biden Announces Appointments to the President's Intelligence Advisory Board and the National Science Board |url=https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/05/04/president-biden-announces-appointments-to-the-presidents-intelligence-advisory-board-and-the-national-science-board/ |access-date=2023-09-19 |website=The White House |language=en-US}}

Early life and education

Louie was born in San Francisco.{{cite news|title=The spy who came in from Silicon Valley|author=Van Slambrouck, Paul|date=January 14, 2000|work=Christian Science Monitor|url=https://www.csmonitor.com/2000/0114/p1s4.html|accessdate=December 12, 2021}} He graduated in 1983 from San Francisco State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration.{{cite web|url=https://www.venturecapitaljournal.com/fact-sheet-gilman-louie/|title=Fact sheet - Gilman Louie|author=Staff writer|date=March 29, 2001|accessdate=December 12, 2021|publisher=Venture Capital Journal}}{{Cite web|url=https://fas.org/about-fas/board/gilman-louie/|title=Gilman Louie|website=Federation Of American Scientists|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-24}} In 1997, he attended the then thirteen-week Advanced Management Program (AMP) and International Senior Management Program (ISMP) at Harvard Business School.

Career

= Video games =

He built a career in the video game industry, founding a company in 1981 while still in college. He called it NEXA Corporation, based on a department at SFSU that was a combination of the humanities and the sciences. In 1986 his company merged with Spectrum Holobyte via a shell company called Sphere, Inc., with Louie as CEO, and then he became CEO of Spectrum Holobyte in 1992. In 1992 he acquired MicroProse. He designed and developed the F-16 Fighting Falcon flight simulator series (1984–1998). He was also chairman of Spectrum HoloByte when it published Tetris (1987), based on a disputed license. His company was acquired by Hasbro Interactive in 1998, where Louie served as Chief Creative Officer and general manager of the Games.com group.{{cite web|url=http://www.sfsu.edu/~news/prsrelea/fy98/053.htm|publisher=San Francisco State University|title=A few among many notable San Francisco State University alumni|author=Public Affairs Office|date=April 24, 2007|accessdate=December 12, 2021|archive-date=May 6, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210506135133/https://www.sfsu.edu/~news/prsrelea/fy98/053.htm|url-status=dead}}

= Venture capital =

In 1999 he co-founded and became the CEO of the non-profit Peleus (later In-Q-It and then In-Q-Tel). It was a company created with $30 million in seed money from the US federal government, and intended to help enhance national security by connecting the United States Intelligence Community with venture-backed entrepreneurial companies and making venture capital style investments in new technologies.

As of 2021, Louie is a partner of Alsop Louie Partners, a venture capital fund focused on helping entrepreneurs start companies. Known investments of Alsop Louie Partners include Niantic, Inc., Wickr, Cleversafe, Ribbit, Zephyr Technologies, Gridspeak, Netwitness, and LookingGlass Cyber Solutions.

= Board activities =

Louie has been on a number of boards of directors, including Wizards of the Coast, Total Entertainment Network, Direct Language, FASA Interactive, Netwitness, Motive Medical, Wickr, Gridspeak, the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA),[http://cnsi.ctrl.ucla.edu/file-sharing/publicview/incubator/Panelist_Bios-275476.pdf University of California, Los Angeles, Thirty-Thirty Seminar Series, March 23, 2011] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714183142/http://cnsi.ctrl.ucla.edu/file-sharing/publicview/incubator/Panelist_Bios-275476.pdf |date=July 14, 2014 }}, Panelist Biography Zephyr Technologies, the CIA Officers Memorial Foundation, Aerospike, GreatSchools and the Chinese American International School in San Francisco. He is on the board of the Markle Foundation, Greatschools.org and Digital Promise. Louie is chairman of the Federation of American Scientists and the Mandarin Institute. In September 2015, he was elected chairman of a US-based 3D Geospatial Mapping company, Vricon.

Other activities

Louie was appointed to the United States National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI) that was established in 2018 and issued its final report in March 2021.{{Cite web |last=Shead |first=Sam |date=2021-03-02 |title=U.S. is ‘not prepared to defend or compete in the A.I. era,’ says expert group chaired by Eric Schmidt |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/02/us-not-prepared-to-defend-or-compete-in-ai-era-says-eric-schmidt-group.html |access-date=2025-02-04 |website=CNBC |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Shead |first=Sam |title=Ex-Google CEO To Lead US Government AI Advisory Group |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/samshead/2019/01/24/ex-google-ceo-to-lead-ai-us-government-ai-advisory-group/ |access-date=2025-02-04 |website=Forbes |language=en}} He was vice chairman of the standing committee on Technology, Insight-Gauge, Evaluate and Review for the United States National Academies. He also chaired the committee on Forecasting Future Disruptive Technologies for the United States National Academies that produced two reports.[http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12557 Persistent Forecasting of Disrupive Technologies, Report 1 of 2], The United States National Academies Press, 2009.[http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12834 Persistent Forecasting of Disruptive Technologies, Report 2 of 2], The United States National Academies Press, 2010.

In 2009, representing his company Alsop Louie Partners, he sat as a member of the committee for The Symposium on Avoiding Technology Surprise for Tomorrow's Warfighter working alongside Raytheon.[http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=12735&page=R5 Report for The Symposium on Avoiding Technology Surprise for Tomorrow's Warfighter], The United States National Academies Press, 2009.

In May 2022, Louie was appointed as a member of the President's Intelligence Advisory Board.{{Cite web |date=2022-05-04 |title=President Biden Announces Appointments to the President's Intelligence Advisory Board and the National Science Board |url=https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/05/04/president-biden-announces-appointments-to-the-presidents-intelligence-advisory-board-and-the-national-science-board/ |access-date=2022-05-04 |website=The White House |language=en-US}} In June 2022, he was appointed as a member of the U.S. Department of State’s Foreign Affairs Policy Board.{{Cite web |title=Secretary Blinken Selects Members of the Foreign Affairs Policy Board |url=https://www.state.gov/secretary-blinken-selects-members-of-the-foreign-affairs-policy-board/ |access-date=2023-09-19 |website=United States Department of State |language=en}}

Credits

Video games designed, programmed and/or produced:

Awards

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

{{commons category}}

  • {{moby developer|id=3490|name=Gilman Louie}}
  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20070206194831/http://www.markle.org/markle_programs/policy_for_a_networked_society/national_security/index.php Markle.org]
  • [http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2005_rpt/vital.pdf Fas.org]
  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20140222142551/http://www.nextgenerationproject.org/images/stories/documents/assembly1/report%20final_w_cover.pdf Nextgenerationproject.org]
  • {{cite web|title=Paying attention to details: It's all in the details|format=video|publisher=YouTube|date=May 29, 2012|author=Gilman, Louie|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHM9uYjUCzc}} - Lecture by Gilman Louie on the topic of starting a business, with conventional wisdom from the world of venture capital
  • Report of the National Commission for Review of the Research and Development Programs of the United States Intelligence Community [http://www.fas.org/irp/eprint/ncrdic.pdf]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Louie, Gilman}}

Category:1960 births

Category:American video game designers

Category:American entertainment industry businesspeople

Category:Living people

Category:MicroProse people

Category:American people of Chinese descent

Category:San Francisco State University alumni