David E. Shaw
A prominent American business and social entrepreneur with extensive global leadership experience in science-based companies, investment management and social impact NGOs, David Shaw has helped build more than a dozen successful technology companies as a CEO, board member or investor. These companies, employing more than 15,000 people worldwide, harness modern science to address important needs in healthcare and other markets. Early in his career, Shaw worked in the State of Maine Executive Department, and also as strategy consultant in the global food and agriculture complex.
Shaw’s career has included extensive public service in science, arts, conservation and public policy. He has served on the faculty of Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, and the advisory board of the Center for Public Leadership. He is a founding director of the US Olympic and Paralympic Museum, Chair-emeritus of The Jackson Laboratory, Treasurer and Trustee emeritus of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and he has been a global leader in science-based conservation of nature as a trustee of the National Park Foundation, as founding chair of the Sargasso Sea Alliance and Aspen High Seas Initiative, as a Patron of Nature to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, as a member of Ocean Elders, and as founder of Second Century Stewardship for America’s national parks.
He has served on the board of US Israel Science and Technology Commission, Maine Medical Center, Hurricane Island Outward Bound, the scientific advisory board of Discovery Communications and Curiosity Stream, a National Fellow of The Explorers Club, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Leadership Council of the Service Year Alliance, and advisory councils of Just Capital, Polaris Venture Partners, Arctaris Impact Fund, Sustainable Harvest International, the Telluride Science and Research Center, Nautilus Media, Waterbear Impact Network, Saildrone, Running Tide Technologies, and Visby Medical. He supports his advocacy interests with the production of documentary films and is a resident of the State of Maine along with his children and 12 grandchildren.
Shaw has been awarded honorary degrees by Colby College, Bates College, Maine College of Art, the University of New England, and the University of Southern Maine. He is a recipient of the Leslie Cheek Medal from the College of William & Mary. Other honors have included induction into the Teddy Roosevelt Society, International SeaKeeper of Year, Blue Ocean Festival Wavemaker, Life Science Foundation Biotech Hall of Fame, honoree New York Restoration Project, UNH Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame, Maine Creativity Center, and Maine Business Hall of Fame. David and his family funded the Shaw Sculpture Park at the Portland Museum of Art, and he is a collector and creator of sculpture.
