Innovation Mandate: Patrick Byrne Lays It On The Line
Doug Henschen, 10 December 2010
Online discount retailer Overstock.com is recognized as a world-class technology organization. Using advanced information management technology, for instance, it can roll up its profit-and-loss position in two hours, giving executives accurate, up-to-date insight for fast decision-making.
Overstock.com’s chairman and CEO, Patrick M. Byrne, is grounded in the technology, but he’s no geek. With a varied business and academic background, Byrne is an outspoken advocate of both school choice and capital market reform. He has founded 19 schools internationally and serves as chairman of the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice. And when it comes to capital markets, Byrne champions greater SEC oversight to curb securities manipulation, a position that has provoked the wrath of Wall Street.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and Asian studies from Dartmouth College, a master’s degree in philosophy from Cambridge University, and a doctorate in philosophy from Stanford University. Byrne also holds a black belt in tae kwon do and has cycled across the country four times. His last ride, in the summer of 2000, was to raise awareness and funds for the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.
