Jerry Yang

Recognized worldwide as an industry visionary, Jerry Yang is the co-founder and Chief Yahoo of Yahoo! Inc., a global Internet media company that offers a branded network of comprehensive information, communication and shopping services to millions of users daily.

Yang, a Taiwanese native raised in San Jose, Calif., co-created the Yahoo! Internet navigational guide in April 1994 with David Filo and co-founded Yahoo! Inc. in April 1995. Yang, a leading force in the media industry, has been instrumental in building Yahoo! into the world's most highly trafficked Web site and one of the Internet's most recognized brands.

A true Internet entrepreneur, Yang has spoken at the most prestigious national and international industry conferences, including COMDEX and Internet World, and at conferences sponsored by Fortune and the Wall Street Journal.

After turning down a $44.4 million acquisition offer from Microsoft in 2008, Yang stepped down as CEO in 2009, eventually leaving the company in 2012.

Since leaving Yahoo! Yang became a mentor to various technology startups and an investor through his firm, AME Cloud Ventures. AME has provided funding to more than 50 startups, including Tango, Evernote, Wattpad, Vectra Networks Inc., and Chinese travel site Shijiebang. "Ame" means "rain" in Japanese, a nod to Yang's interest in cloud computing.

Yang also serves on the board of Alibaba, a Chinese multinational conglomerate specializing in e-commerce, retail, Internet, and technology.

Yang holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in electrical engineering from Stanford University and is currently on a leave of absence from Stanford's electrical engineering Ph.D. program.