Jodee Rich
{{Short description|Australian businessman}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2021}}
{{Use Australian English|date=June 2011}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Jodee Rich
| honorific_suffix =
| image =
| image_size =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1960|2|1}}
| birth_place = New York City
| death_date =
| death_place =
| education = Cranbrook School
| alma_mater = University of Sydney
| occupation = Entrepreneur
| boards = {{bulleted list|Imagineering Australia|One.Tel|PeopleBrowsr}}
| spouse = Maxine Rich, née Brenner
| parents = {{unbulleted list|Steven Rich {{post-nominals|country=AUS|AM}}|Gail Rich}}
| children =
| nationality = Australian
| website = [http://jdr.ceo JDR.CEO]
}}
John David "Jodee" Rich (born 1960) is an Australian businessman. He was a founder of the defunct mobile phone provider One.Tel and the software distributor Imagineering Australia. He is now the CEO and founder of social analytics and influence measurement provider PeopleBrowsr and the creator of new TLDs dotCEO, dotBest and dotKred.{{cite news |url=http://www.businessspectator.com.au/article/2012/5/25/media-and-digital/third-time-lucky-jodee-rich |title=Third time lucky for Jodee Rich? |work=Business Spectator |date=25 May 2012 |access-date=11 July 2014 }}
Background and education
Rich was born to a German Jewish father, Steven Rich,{{Cite web |url=http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/WORLD-OBITS/2006-06/1149422879 |title=Roots web |access-date=22 August 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304231932/http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/WORLD-OBITS/2006-06/1149422879 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |url-status=dead }} who, in 1963, settled in Australia to manage Hunter Douglas, a Venetian blind manufacturer, and his wife, Gail, born in Australia.{{deadlink|date=April 2019}} Steven Rich went on to create the Traveland travel agency, was the deputy chairman of the Salvation Army in 1971 and was awarded an Order of Australia in 2001.{{Cite It's an Honour |ausawardid=870770 |date=11 June 2001 |recipient=RICH Steven |award=Member of the Order of Australia |postnominal=AM |citation=For service to the book publishing and travel industries, to export industry development in Papua New Guinea, and to the community, particularly through the Salvation Army. |postscript= |accessdate=21 April 2019 }}{{deadlink|date=April 2019}} Steven Rich subsequently created Focus Publishing.[http://sydney.edu.au/senate/historyCentenaryBook.shtml University of Sydney]
Rich wrote his first software program on punch cards in 1972 at the age of 12.{{Citation needed|date=February 2014}} He was educated at Cranbrook School in Bellevue Hill, Sydney. During his Cranbrook days Rich started a business renting fish tanks.Chenoweth 2006: 257 At Cranbrook he met Rodney Adler, who would go on to become a director of One.Tel. In 1980 Rich developed a commodity analysis system on 64k Apple II, which he later sold to investment banks.[http://www.cvxmelody.net/Imagine_a_world_without_pirates_The_Age_Feb_28_1984.htm "$25m in five years, imagine that" - The Sydney Morning Herald. 25 November 1985] He studied Accounting, Economics and Computer Science at University of Sydney, graduating in 1981 with a Bachelor of Economics.{{Citation needed|date=February 2014}}
In 1987, Rich married Maxine Brenner, a corporate lawyer who has sat on the board of a public company, Neverfail Springwater, and has served as a member of the Takeovers Panel, a government body involved in the resolution of sharemarket disputes.{{cite news |url=http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/11/07/1068013391036.html |title=To have and to hold |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=7 November 2003 |access-date=11 July 2014}}
Corporate achievements
=Imagineering=
In 1981, Rich launched Imagineering Australia and the company was floated in 1987. Shares in Imagineering peaked at $8{{cite news |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |url=http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/08/16/1029114007430.html |title=Fluctuating fortunes on Rich list |date=16 August 2002 |access-date=11 July 2014 }} but the company sold to a Hong Kong group for 10c a share in 1990.
=One.Tel=
Rich formed One.Tel, a service provider of GSM mobile and long-distance calls, in Australia in 1995 (with James Packer as a shareholder) competing against Telstra and Optus.{{cite news |url=http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/04/05/1017206265393.html |title=Hell's bells |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=5 April 2002 |access-date=11 July 2014 }} The company acquired a GSM operation for $500 million in 2000. One.Tel Australia was placed in administration in May 2001. One.Tel UK was sold to Centrica for $200 million and later to Carphone Warehouse who retired the brand in favour of its TalkTalk brand.
Beginning in December 2001, Rich was the defendant in legal proceedings brought by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).{{cite news |url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/business/adler-settles-in-onetel-bonus-case/2007/10/26/1192941336767.html |title=Adler settles in One.Tel bonus case |first=Elisabeth |last=Sexton |date=27 October 2007 |work=The Sydney Morning Herald }} During the case, known as ASIC v Rich, Rich was in the witness box for over 33 days.[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71-Tylfmrt0 ASIC loses marathon legal battle against Onetel] Retrieved 11 July 2014. Justice Austin later said in his judgment Rich "demonstrated that he was a very well prepared witness, knowledgeable about the subject matter of his evidence, who responded to questions thoughtfully and clearly, sometimes even perceptively. This was notwithstanding the arduous circumstances of his cross examination, extending over 25 days".{{cite news |url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/jodee-richs-uphill-pedal-ends/story-e6frg6nf-1225799512573 |title=Jodee Rich's Uphill pedal ends |first=Sussanah |last=Moran |date=19 November 2009 |work=The Australian }}
Rich was exonerated on 18 November 2009 when Justice Robert Austin ruled that ASIC had "failed to prove any aspect of its pleaded case."[http://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/scjudgments/2009nswsc.nsf/00000000000000000000000000000000/946c84c9b612746fca25766c002688f0?OpenDocument Australian Securities and Investment Commission judgement] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120301034725/http://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/scjudgments/2009nswsc.nsf/00000000000000000000000000000000/946c84c9b612746fca25766c002688f0?OpenDocument |date=1 March 2012 }} 18 November 2009
= Other business achievements =
In 2007, Rich founded PeopleBrowsr.[http://www.slideshare.net/peoplebrowsr/peoplebrowsr-summary-deck Peoplebrowsr Summary Deck] Jodee Rich, June 2010 In 2011, PeopleBrowsr launched Kred Influence Measurement.{{cite web|last=Schonfeld|first=Erick|title=You Might Have Klout, But What's Your Kred?|url=https://techcrunch.com/2011/09/29/kred/|work=TechCrunch|date=30 September 2011 |access-date=20 October 2011}}
On 27 March 2013, Rich launched the TLD dotCEO. It is marketed to CEOs.[http://dotwhatever.com/the-case-for-dot-ceo/ dotWhatever] Retrieved 10 February 2014.
See also
References
{{reflist}}
Further reading
- {{Citation | author1=Chenoweth, Neil | title=Packer's lunch : a rollicking tale of Swiss bank accounts and money-making | date=2006 | publisher=Allen & Unwin | isbn=978-1-74114-546-5 }}
- {{Citation | author1=Barry, Paul | title=Rich kids : how the Murdochs and Packers lost $950 million in One.Tel | date=2003 | publisher=Bantam Books | edition=Revised and Updated | isbn=978-1-86325-339-0 }}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rich, Jodee}}
Category:Australian businesspeople