Jean Case

Jean Case is a philanthropist, investor and a pioneer in the world of interactive technologies. She is the Chairman of the National Geographic Society, CEO of the Case Foundation, and founder of the weekly investment newsletter For What It’s Worth. Her career in the private sector spanned nearly two decades before launching the Case Foundation with her husband Steve. The Foundation is recognized for its innovative efforts to address significant social challenges, harnessing the best impulses of entrepreneurship, innovation, technology and collaboration to drive exponential impact.

A passionate believer in all things digital and the potential of technology to change the world for the better, Case and her team focus the efforts of the Foundation around many of the same entrepreneurial approaches she cultivated throughout her career. Out of this work, the Case Foundation has identified five principles that individuals and organizations can take to bring about transformational change -- principles which serve as the foundation for her bestselling book, "Be Fearless: 5 Principles for a Life of Breakthroughs and Purpose." Case has spoken at hundreds of events inspiring leaders worldwide to incorporate these principles into their work.

Before co-founding the Case Foundation, Case was a senior executive at America Online, Inc. (AOL), where she directed marketing and branding strategy as AOL introduced the internet to the world. Before AOL, she held strategic marketing positions at GE’s Information Services Division and at The Source, the nation’s first online service.

Case serves on the boards of National Geographic Partners, the White House Historical Association and the Smithsonian American Women's History Initiative. She also sits on the advisory boards of the Brain Trust Accelerator Fund, Georgetown University’s Beeck Center for Social Impact & Innovation, and the George W. Bush Presidential Library Center’s Women’s Initiative Policy Advisory Council.

Case was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has received honorary degrees from Indiana University and George Mason University. She appears on Forbes magazine's "50 Over 50" list. She and her husband have joined The Giving Pledge, publicly reaffirming their commitment to give away the majority of their wealth to charitable causes.