Bio
Steve Bratt
Steve Bratt became the first Chief Executive Officer of the World Wide Web Foundation in September 2008. He is leading the launch of the Foundation, and working to fund and start high-impact initiatives to advance both the Web itself and its ability to empower all people on the planet.
Bratt has held leadership and research positions within for-profit and not-for-profit, international organizations. His previous position was as CEO of the World Wide Web Consortium -- the standards organization responsible for the technologies that make the Web work.
From 1997 through 2001, Bratt served as the first Coordinator of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty International Data Centre in Vienna, Austria. There he was responsible for establishing the data center, global communications infrastructure, and standards for data exchange between more than 300 world-wide sensors and 170 nations.
From 1984 to 1997, Bratt led research initiatives -- first at Science Applications International Corporation and then as a program manager at Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency -- to develop advanced concepts for real-time sensor monitoring, intelligent analysis and international data communications.
Since 1993, Web technologies have played the central role in support of the sharing of data, information and knowledge within the complex systems that he has designed and deployed.
Gavin Newsom
Gavin Newsom was elected as the 49th Lieutenant Governor of the State of California on November 2, 2010. His top priorities are economic development and job creation, improving access to higher education, and maintaining California's environmental leadership. Prior to being elected Lieutenant Governor, he served two-terms as Mayor of San Francisco. Under his leadership, the economy grew and jobs were created. The City became a center for biotech and clean tech. He initiated a plan to bring universal health care to all of the City's uninsured residents. And Newsom aggressively pursued local solutions to global climate change. In the final days of his second term as Mayor, Newsom led a historic drive to host the 2013 America's Cup, one of the largest and most prestigious sporting events in the world, which is expected to generate roughly 8,000 jobs and $1.2 billion for the local and state economy.
Vijay V. Vaitheeswaran
Vijay Vaitheeswaran is an award-winning correspondent for The Economist. In his two decades on staff, he has covered development issues, energy and environment, health care, and innovation. He is an expert advisor to the World Economic Forum/Davos and a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He also teaches at NYU's Stern Business School. Mr. Vaitheeswaran has addressed groups ranging from the U.S. National Governors' Association and the U.N. General Assembly to the TED, AAAS and Aspen Ideas conferences. His most recent special reports for The Economist were on innovation and on technology in health care. His latest book, ZOOM, was named a Book of the Year by the Financial Times. Mr. Vaitheeswaran is also the author of Power to the People, a book on the future of energy.
Encyclopædia Britannica Article
- Economist, The
Weekly magazine of news and opinion, founded in 1843 and published in London, generally regarded as one of the world's preeminent journals of its kind. It gives thorough and wide-ranging coverage of general news and particularly of international political developments that bear on the world's economy. In accord with the views promoted by its founders and conveyed by legendary Economist editor Walter Bagehot, the publication maintains the position that free markets typically provide the best method of running economies and governments. North America accounts for about half of its total readership.
- Economist, The on britannica.com
© 2010 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Watch Now
