Tim Westergren
{{Short description|American entrepreneur (born 1965)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Tim Westergren
| image = Tim Westergren David Shankbone 2010 NYC.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Westergren in 2010
| birth_name = Timothy Brooks Westergren
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1965|12|21}}
| birth_place = Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.
| death_date =
| death_place =
| nationality =
| other_names =
| known_for = Co-founder of Pandora
| signature = Tim Westergren signature, Billboard Open Letter 2016.png
}}
Timothy Brooks Westergren (born December 21, 1965) is a co-founder of Pandora.{{cite web|title=Corporate Team|publisher=Pandora|date=2010-05-04|url=http://www.pandora.com/corporate/team}}
Biography
Westergren was born in 1965 in Minneapolis. He attended boarding school, Cranbrook Kingswood, during his high school years. He graduated from Stanford University with a B.A. in political science.{{cite web|url=http://events.stanford.edu/events/99/9927/ |title=Pandora at Stanford: Beginnings, with Tim Westergren '88 |publisher=Events.stanford.edu |access-date=2012-11-06}} Following his graduation, Westergren spent twenty years working as a record producer and composer (working as a nanny in between jobs), devoting the majority of his time to emerging artists and independent labels.
In 1999 he started Pandora Media along with co-founders Will Glaser and Jon Kraft. The Oakland, Calif., company went public in 2011,{{cite web|title=Startup Strategies: Advice from successful entrepreneurs about making it-- and learning from failure|url=http://www.success.com/articles/1802---startup-strategies|work=SUCCESS magazine|publisher=SUCCESS Media|accessdate=1 June 2012}} reporting $138 million in revenue that fiscal year.
As an early project, Westergren and Glaser created the Music Genome Project, a mathematical algorithm to organize music. As the company's chief strategy officer, Westergren spent the majority of his time traveling the nation and gathering feedback from Pandora Radio users. In 2010 he was listed by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.{{cite news
|work=Time magazine
|url=http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1984685_1984745_1985482,00.html
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100502132946/http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1984685_1984745_1985482,00.html
|url-status=dead
|archive-date=May 2, 2010
|accessdate=2010-05-06
|title=The 2010 Time 100: Tim Westergren
|author=Kurt Andersen
|author-link=Kurt Andersen
|date=April 29, 2010
}}
In April 2016, Pandora Media announced that Westergren would replace Brian McAndrews as CEO. He had been CEO and president from May 2002 to July 2004.{{cite web|last1=Chandler|first1=Michele|title=Pandora Founder Tim Westergren Returns As CEO, Stock Hits Sour Note|url=http://www.investors.com/news/technology/pandora-founder-tim-westergren-returns-as-ceo-stock-hits-sour-note/|website=Investor's Business Daily|date=28 March 2016 |publisher=investors.com|accessdate=25 April 2016}} In June 2017, he announced that he would step down as CEO.{{cite web|url=http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN19H06I|title=Pandora Media's CEO Tim Westergren to step down: Recode|publisher=Reuters|date=25 June 2017}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Westergren, Tim}}