The Tech Awards Judges
Economic Development
Alexander J. Field, Chair
Michael and Mary Orradre Professor of Economics
Santa Clara University
Professor Field's current research is in two main areas. The first, aimed at better integrating the human sciences, is reflected in his 2001 book, Altruistically Inclined? The Behavioral Sciences, Evolutionary Theory, and the Origins of Reciprocity, which won the 2003 Alpha Sigma Nu National Book Award in the Social Sciences. His second area of current interest is in macroeconomic history with a focus on technology and productivity. His article "The Most Technologically Progressive Decade of the Twentieth Century" appeared in the September 2003 American Economic Review. His book The Great Depression and the U.S. Economics Growth is scheduled to be published by Yale University Press in 2010.
Professor Field recently completed two years of service on the National Science Foundation's Economics Panel. He is Editor of Research in Economic History, on the Editorial Board of Cliometrica, and on the Advisory Board of the Journal of Bioeconomics. He has served as Associate Editor of the Journal of Economic Literature (1981-2004) and on the editorial boards of Explorations in Economic History (1983-89) and the Journal of Economic History (2001-04).
At Santa Clara he has served as acting Academic Vice President (1986-87), on the University's Board of Trustees (1988-91), as Associate and Acting Dean of the Leavey School of Business between 1993 and 1997, and as chair of the Economics Department between 1988 and 1993. In September 2004, he became Executive Director of the Economic History Association.
Anthony Bettencourt
Chairman
Blinkx, Inc.
Anthony Bettencourt currently serves as the chairman of the board of Blinkx, Inc., the world's largest video search engine on the Internet, and is also on the board of the Alameda County Community Food Bank. Previously, Mr. Bettencourt was the Chief Executive Officer of Verity, and led the company through its successful acquisition by Autonomy.In 2005, he was awarded the prestigious Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award for software and technology in the Silicon Valley. Anthony serves as a judge for the Tech Awards and is a mentor for Santa Clara University's Global Social Benefit Incubator program at the Center for Science, Technology, and Society. Anthony earned a B.A. in English from Santa Clara University in 2006.
Edwin Ou
Program Officer
Skoll Foundation
As Program Officer for the Skoll Foundation, Edwin Ou manages a variety of grant relationships as a member of the Program and Impact team. Edwin also manages field-building initiatives in social entrepreneurship through grant making and for-profit investments as part of the Ecosystem Investments and Partnerships team.
Prior to working at Skoll, Edwin amassed a diverse set of leadership skills and experience in organizational and business planning, program and personnel management and financial development in the field of social entrepreneurship. Most recently, Edwin led programmatic efforts as Chief Operating Officer for the Marine Aquarium Council (MAC), where he managed the spin-offs of MAC's regional capacity-building programs as newly-formed NGOs in Indonesia and the Philippines. Prior to MAC, Edwin led the business development efforts at Benetech, where he built a team that evaluated and drove the early-stage development of social ventures and fueled the organization with funding and partner resources. Edwin also gained experience in the for-profit sector as a senior product manager for a technology startup and as a mergers and acquisitions advisor for an energy investment bank.
Edwin earned his B.A. in Economics at Rice University and M.B.A. from the Walter A. Haas School of Business at University of California, Berkeley, where he focused his studies in social entrepreneurship and was a Packard Environment Fellow. He has served on regional boards of three not-for-profit organizations: the Red Cross, Surfrider Foundation and Taiwanese American Citizens League.
Linda Kamas
Associate Professor of Economics
Santa Clara University
Professor Kamas teaches in the areas of macroeconomics, economics of gender, and vocation. Her research is in behavioral economics, with emphasis on altruism, other-regarding preferences, and gender differences in economic behavior.
Homa Zarghamee
Assistant Professor of Economics
Santa Clara University
Dr. Zarghamee teaches in the areas of microeconomics and econometrics.
Her current research is on the nature of time preference or myopia, particularly on the identification of factors that influence time preference and measurement thereof. She also studies the effects of altruism and fairness-concerns on contributions to public goods. Other areas of research include the economics of child labor, youth in developing countries, and transition from education to the labor force in Iran.
Dr. Zarghamee has done consulting work for the World Bank, and her work has been published in the Journal of Development Economics,Journal of Public
Economics and in the World Bank's 2007 World Development Report.
Michael Chertok
Vice President, Global Impact
Digital Divide Data
A co-founder and former Board Chair, Michael is Vice President, Global Impact for DDD. Previously, he served as Program Officer in the Global Development Program of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Michael has also worked as a consultant on philanthropy and international development to other private foundations and individual donors and was a Digital Vision Fellow at Stanford University. Michael was the co-founder and Managing Director of Global Catalyst Foundation, the philanthropy arm of a Silicon Valley venture capital firm, where he facilitated a seed grant to help launch DDD. Prior to this, he helped start the non-profit organization Schools Online to bring Internet access and training to more than 5,000 schools around the world. Michael holds a BA in Russian Studies from Yale University and an MBA and a Certificate in Public Management from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He's happy to be living in San Francisco again.
