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Greg Blonder is an inventor, scientist, entrepreneur and author.
Greg was born into a family of small business owners, and has always found a way to combine his natural talent for innovative ideas, with a path to commercial realization. From 2000-2008, Greg
was a Partner at Morgenthaler Ventures, and previously served as Entrepreneur in Residence at AT&T
Ventures. Mr. Blonder joined AT&T in 1982, studying
superconductivity and the quantum phenomena of semiconductor materials.
Much of this research has resulted in practical applications and he
holds over 80
patents in the areas of optical disk recording, integrated fiber
optic devices, displays, toys, computer systems, software services and improved user interfaces.
In
1987 he was promoted to head of the Photonics and Electronics Research
Department, and then in 1991 to director of the Materials and Technology
Integration Research Laboratory. In 1992 he assumed the additional responsibility
as the Chief Technical Advisor for Corporate Strategy and Development, where
he was involved in selecting technical and business strategies for AT&T, and reported to the board and senior management team.
In 1995, recognizing the need to focus Bell Labs research activities
closer to consumer markets, he started the Customer Expectations Research
Lab. This lab (Article
in Fast Company) tries to understand human behavior through a variety
of statistical and cognitive techniques- and then relate those needs
to future products
and services. They also pioneered a quantitative approach to scenario
planning, which has been adopted by a number of companies.
Greg's
personal research at AT&T was divided between discovering compelling new services
and inventing new classes of consumer electronics devices (such
as the AT&T Wrist Telephone). In January 1998 he decided to
leave AT&T Labs, and follow some of these ideas through to the marketplace
by joining AT&T Ventures. In 2000 he joined Morgenthaler Ventures, just as the internet bubble was deflating. Fortunately, Greg comes from a long family tradition of operating small businesses, and was able to help operate or lead many post-bubble companies to reasonable landings. Over a twenty five year career he has demonstrated a strong passion to strengthen this country's technological and competitive foundation through entrepreneurship and education. He has lectured at Wharton and Columbia Business Schools, and taught at Parsons.
Greg
is a director or advisor at a number of private companies, and also frequently writes about venture capital, green technology and the economy for Business Week.
Mr.
Blonder attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.)
where his undergraduate thesis was on phase transitions in liquid crystals.
In 1982 he received his MS and Ph.D. in Physics from Harvard University
after explaining the physics behind the normal-superconducting transition
in point contact junctions.