James Kinsella (entrepreneur)

James Kinsella was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the youngest of six children. One of his brothers is John Kinsella,{{Cite web|title=John Kinsella|url=https://www.childrenscolorado.org/doctors-and-departments/physicians/k/john-kinsella/|website=www.childrenscolorado.org}} a neonatologist and professor at the University of Colorado Medical School.{{Cite journal|last1=Kinsella|first1=John P.|last2=Cutter|first2=Gary R.|last3=Walsh|first3=William F.|last4=Gerstmann|first4=Dale R.|last5=Bose|first5=Carl L.|last6=Hart|first6=Claudia|last7=Sekar|first7=Kris C.|last8=Auten|first8=Richard L.|last9=Bhutani|first9=Vinod K.|last10=Gerdes|first10=Jeffrey S.|last11=George|first11=Thomas N.|date=2006-07-27|title=Early inhaled nitric oxide therapy in premature newborns with respiratory failure|journal=The New England Journal of Medicine|volume=355|issue=4|pages=354–364|doi=10.1056/NEJMoa060442|issn=1533-4406|pmid=16870914|doi-access=free}}

Kinsella graduated from Lindbergh High School in St. Louis County, Missouri and Haverford College.{{Cite web|url=https://www.haverford.edu/college-communications/news/scholarship-helps-haverford-build-bridges-islamic-world|title=Scholarship helps Haverford build bridges|date=30 September 2006|website=www.haverford.edu}}

Kinsella worked as a journalist for several U.S. media companies, including the Los Angeles Herald Examiner and Time. While on sabbatical from the Herald Examiner, where he was the editor of the editorial pages, Kinsella was a fellow at Columbia University's Garnett Center for Media Studies.{{Cite book |last=Kinsella |first=James |title=Covering the Plague: AIDS and the American Media |publisher=Rutgers University Press |year=1989 |isbn=978-0813514826}} His research of media coverage of the AIDS epidemic, first published by the New England Journal of Public Policy in 1988, formed the basis of his 1989 book Covering the Plague, which tells how the media and medical experts "fumbled" the AIDS story.{{Cite journal |last=Kinsella |first=James |date=January 1, 1998 |title=Covering the Plague Years: Four Approaches to the AIDS Beat |url=https://scholarworks.umb.edu/nejpp/vol4/iss1/36/ |journal=New England Journal of Public Policy |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=465–474}}{{Cite book |last=Stoner |first=Andrew E. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1090699627 |title=The journalist of Castro Street: the life of Randy Shilts |date=2019 |isbn=978-0-252-05132-6 |location=Urbana |oclc=1090699627}}

Kinsella was a founder of the first major media company's web-based venture, Time{{'}}s Pathfinder.{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/readingsinelectr00ravi|url-access=registration|quote=james kinsella pathfinder.|title=Electronic Commerce: A manager's guide|last=Kalakota|first=Ravi|publisher=Addison Wesley|year=1996|isbn=0201880679|location=Boston|pages=[https://archive.org/details/readingsinelectr00ravi/page/269 269]}} He later managed Microsoft's joint media venture with NBC, MSNBC, launched in 1996. He served as a vice president at Microsoft and president of the Microsoft-managed part of the venture, MSNBC.com.{{Cite news|url=https://www.cnet.com/news/short-msnbc-gets-new-general-manager/|title=MSNBC gets new general manager|date=2 October 1996|work=CNET.com}}

In June 2000, Kinsella became chairman and CEO of World Online, the European equivalent of AOL owned by the Sandoz Family Foundation.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/05/11/business/world-business-briefing-europe-chairman-for-world-online.html|title=Chairman for World Online|last=Ross Sorkin|first=Andrew|date=11 May 2000|work=The New York Times}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.cnet.com/news/msnbc-com-ceo-leaves-to-run-dutch-isp/|title=MSNBC CEO leaves to run Dutch ISP|last=Olsen|first=Stefanie|date=4 May 2000|work=CNET.com}} The company had gone public in the spring of that year but was quickly dogged by the revelation that its founder and chairwoman, Nina Brink, had secretly sold shares at a drastic discount to the flotation price.{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/money/2000/apr/14/personalfinancenews.business1|title=Brink resigns from World Online after irate investors go to law|last=Clark|first=Andrew|date=13 April 2000|work=The Guardian}} Kinsella replaced Brink as chairman and CEO and quickly set about cutting costs, including cancelling the private plane Brink had leased as well as stopping a multimillion-euro ad campaign featuring Sarah, Duchess of York.{{Cite news|url=https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-1999-07-05-9907050089-story.html|title=Duchess of York calls on Mandela|date=5 July 1999|work=The Sun Sentinel}} Kinsella eventually merged World Online with its Italian competitor, Tiscali, in a sale valuing World Online at $5.1 billion.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/08/business/technology-italian-dutch-deal-creates-internet-giant.html|title=Italian Dutch deal creates internet giant|last=Ross Sorkin|first=Andrew|date=8 September 2000|work=The New York Times}}

Following the merger, Kinsella became chairman and CEO of the Sandoz Family Foundation's other major investment in European technology, Interoute Communications Ltd. The company was launched in 1996 to develop a pan-European digital infrastructure for the booming web-based sector but suffered from the collapse of the dotcom bubble. In 2002, Kinsella brought Interoute out of bankruptcy. The move was controversial because it resulted in the loss of hundreds of jobs.{{Cite news|url=https://www.totaltele.com/389600/Interoute-back-from-the-dead-loses-250-staff|title=Interoute back from the dead, loss 250 staff|last=Gradiner|first=Joey|date=18 December 2002|work=Total Telecom}} A subsequent partnership with Greek operator OTE to provide high-speed bandwidth to Greece{{Cite web|date=April 4, 2003|title=Fixing Games glitches before they happen|url=http://www.inv.gr/olympics_news.htm#Interoute|website=inv.gr}} in the run-up to the Olympics helped the company survive.{{Cite news|title=Interoute hires, plans expansion|work=lightreading|url=lightreading.com|access-date=November 30, 2004}}

After the dot-com bubble and 2008 financial crisis, Interoute acquired a series of heavily discounted European assets, including the failed KPNQwest's Ebone network{{Cite news|url=https://www.lightreading.com/ethernet-ip/interoute-acquires-ebone/d/d-id/582039|title=Interoute acquires ebone|last=Larson|first=Eugenie|date=15 July 2002|work=Lightreading.com}} and one of the world's first business-to-business Internet service providers, PSINet Europe.{{Cite news|url=https://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240075077/Interoute-to-acquire-Via-NetWorks|title=Interoute to acquire Via Networks|last=Savas|first=Antony|date=5 September 2005|work=Lightreading.com}}

In response to the rise of data-privacy concerns and the emerging General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Kinsella launched a European-based competitor in the data storage and sharing industry, called Zettabox. The company was described by the European Commission as "an example of a genuinely European cloud storage solution"{{Cite web|url=http://ec.europa.eu/justice/data-protection/files/data-protection-big-data_factsheet_web_en.pdf|title=Big Data Factsheet|website=European Commission}} and a "GDPR by design" alternative. He was widely referenced in the media as a GDPR entrepreneur.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/21/technology/as-us-tech-companies-scramble-group-sees-opportunity-in-safe-harbor-decision.html|title=As US tech companies scramble, group sees opportunity in safe-harbor decision|last=Scott|first=Mark|date=20 October 2015|work=The New York Times}}

Interoute was sold to GTT in March 2018 for $2.3 billion (€1.9 billion).{{Cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-interoute-m-a-gtt-commns/cloud-networking-company-gtt-to-acquire-interoute-in-2-3-billion-deal-idUSKCN1GA1KV|title=Cloud networking company GTT to acquire Interoute in 2.3 billion deal|date=26 February 2018|work=Reuters}}

Kinsella is a founding partner at D4 Investments, a Seattle- and London-based early stage investor.{{Cite news|date=November 25, 2020|title=Aithority|work=aithority.com|url=https://aithority.com/bs-investment/elevat-raises-9-5-million-in-d4-investments-led-seed-round/}}

Kinsella was a founder in 1996 of the Internet Content Coalition,{{Cite web|url=https://www.mit.edu/activities/safe/labeling/icc/founders.html|title=ICC Founders|website=MIT}} a not-for-profit association of producers and distributors of original content on the Internet. Its primary role was to help create a responsible and business-friendly environment through advocacy, education, standardization and policy, with the secondary goal of preventing laws that might block the development of the Internet's creative potential.{{Cite news|url=https://www.cnet.com/news/content-under-pressure/|title=Content under pressure|date=23 December 1996|work=Cnet}}

Two decades later, as a tech executive in the European Union, Kinsella worked to develop privacy tools to combat rampant violation of individual users' data. He also lobbied the European Union on implementation of the GDPR.{{Cite web|url=https://www.eu-ems.com/speakers.asp?event_id=3307&page_id=7901|title=The 7th Annual European Data Protection and Privacy Conference|date=1 December 2016|website=European Union}} He subsequently pushed for the adoption of a US version of the GDPR.{{Citation|last=MSNBC|title=EU's Landmark Online Privacy Rules {{!}} shift {{!}} msnbc|date=2015-07-25|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sVoU4zCKUw|access-date=2019-05-06}}

The Robert McNeal and James Kinsella Family Fund supports efforts to close the income inequality gap, including scholarship programs and a student emergency fund, as well as support of LGBTQ rights, such as funding the Spectrum Club at the United States Air Force Academy.{{Cite news|last=Nystrom|first=Andy|date=March 25, 2020|title=Making ends meet during the coronavirus pandemic|work=Kirkland Reporter|location=Kirkland, Washington|url=https://www.kirklandreporter.com/life/making-ends-meet-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic/}}{{Cite web|date=September 30, 2006|title=Scholarship helps Haverford build bridges with the Islamic world|url=https://www.haverford.edu/college-communications/news/scholarship-helps-haverford-build-bridges-islamic-world|website=haverford.edu}}

He is married to Robert McNeal, his longtime business partner who is also a former pilot and officer in the US Air Force.{{Cite web|title=Spectrum Club|url=https://falconfunder.usafa.org/project/16585|access-date=2021-03-10|website=Air Force Academy Foundation|language=en}}{{failed verification|date=April 2021}}

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Category:1959 births

Category:Living people

Category:American chief executives

Category:American technology chief executives

Category:British technology chief executives

Category:Businesspeople from Missouri

Category:Haverford College alumni

Category:Los Angeles Herald Examiner people

Category:Time (magazine) people