William H. Neukom | |
---|---|
Born | 1942 (age 81–82) San Mateo, California, U.S. |
Education | Dartmouth College (BA) Stanford Law School (LLB) |
Spouse(s) | Diane McMakin (m. 1966–1977)Sally Beard Barnes |
Children | 5 |
William Horlick Neukom (born 1942) is an American former managing general partner of the San Francisco Giants baseball team ownership group. He held this position from May 2008 to December 31, 2011, and he was the managing partner when the Giants won the World Series in 2010, the first World Series win since the team had moved to California in 1958. Prior to holding this position, he was President of the American Bar Association in 2007–08. [1] He was the principal legal counsel for Microsoft for almost 25 years. He was also the chairman of the law firm of Preston Gates & Ellis, LLP in Seattle, now part of K&L Gates. He is a co-founder & CEO of the World Justice Project. [2]
Neukom was born in 1942 to Ruth (née Horlick) and John Goudey Neukom. [3] He has three siblings, including a brother Daniel born seven years younger than him, who was a history teacher at Sacramento Country Day School for 44 years. [4] [5] He was raised in the Bay Area community of San Mateo, California. He graduated from San Mateo High School in 1960. After receiving an undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College in 1964, [6] Neukom returned to the Bay Area where he received a law degree from Stanford Law School in 1967. [7]
After earning his law degree, Bill Neukom began his legal career as a bailiff and clerk for Judge Theodore S. Turner at the King County Superior Court in Seattle during 1967-68. [9]
Following his clerkship, Neukom joined a small law firm. However, after nine years, seeking broader opportunities, he transitioned to the Seattle law firm Shidler, McBroom, Gates & Lucas (later Preston Gates & Ellis), bringing some clients with him. He had already established a connection with Bill Gates Sr., a managing partner at the firm. [10] In 1978, Gates Sr. enlisted Neukom to provide legal advice to his son's nascent software company, Microsoft, which at the time had just 12 employees. [6] After six years as an outside counsel, Neukom became Microsoft's first general counsel in 1985, overseeing the legal department's growth from a team of five to over 600 attorneys and support personnel by the time he left in 2002. [11] [12] He eventually rose to the position of Executive Vice President, managing Microsoft’s legal, governmental affairs, and philanthropic activities for 17 years. [12]
Neukom was instrumental in defending Microsoft's intellectual property across various countries, most notably in the landmark Apple v. Microsoft case. [9] He also played a key role in navigating the company through complex antitrust suits, including the high-profile United States v. Microsoft case, often referred to as the "trial of the century." [13] Beyond legal battles, Neukom directed Microsoft's community affairs programs, spearheading initiatives such as the Microsoft Giving Campaign, the Microsoft Matching Gifts Program, and the Microsoft Volunteer Program. He retired from Microsoft in 2002 as Executive Vice President of Law & Corporate Affairs. [9]
After his tenure at Microsoft, Neukom returned to Preston Gates & Ellis as a partner in the business law practice, eventually becoming chair of the firm in January 2004. [12]
In addition to his corporate career, Neukom served as president of the American Bar Association from August 2007 to August 2008. [14]
Neukom is the co-founder, president, and CEO of the World Justice Project, which works internationally to strengthen the rule of law, aiming to promote the development of communities of opportunity and equity. [14]
Neukom had been an investor in the Giants since 1995 and on May 16, 2008, was named the new Managing General Partner for the Giants. [8] He succeeded Peter Magowan, who retired at the end of the 2008 season at the age of 66. [15] Neukom and other investors purchased a portion of Peter Magowan's ownership interest in the team. Neukom became the lead active investor of the team following the reduction of Magowan's ownership interest, the death of Harmon Burns (a leading investor who died in 2006) and the death of Sue Burns, who died in 2009.
On September 14, 2011, Bill Neukom announced he was retiring as the Managing General Partner and CEO of the San Francisco Giants effective January 1, 2012, and he would be succeeded by Giants executive Larry Baer. [16] The San Jose Mercury reported anonymous sources saying that Neukom was forced out due to differences in the ownership group on how to divide up the additional money earned after the Giants won the 2010 World Series. [17] The Mercury also reported Giants shareholder Charles Bartlett Johnson purchased additional interests in the team, becoming the largest individual shareholder at 25%. [18]
Neukom married Diane McMakin on December 28, 1963 [19] and divorced in June 1977, and they had four children, [20] Josselyn Neukom, Samantha Neukom Nyhan (Paul Nyhan), Gillian Neukom Toledo (Rob Toledo), and John McMakin "Jay" Neukom. [21] [22] [23] Neukom has since married Sally Beard Barnes, with whom he has a stepchild.
Between 1996 and 2007, Neukom was a member of the Board of Trustees of Dartmouth College, and he served as chair of the board from 2004 to 2007. Three of his four children have attended Dartmouth. He is the founding donor of the Neukom Institute for Computational Science at Dartmouth College, which aims to advance computing resources and applications in multiple aspects of the Dartmouth curriculum. [24] [25]
In 2006 Neukom committed to a gift of $20 million for the planned construction of a new academic building at Stanford University's law school. [7] The structure, named the William H. Neukom Building and opened in 2011, is 65,000 square feet (6,000 m2) and is situated on the existing law school complex. [26]
Steven Anthony Ballmer is an American businessman and investor who was the chief executive officer of Microsoft from 2000 to 2014. He is the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is a co-founder of Ballmer Group, a philanthropic investment company.
William Henry Gates II, better known as Bill Gates Sr., was an American attorney, philanthropist, and civic leader. He was the founder of the law firm Shidler McBroom & Gates, and also served as president of both the Seattle King County and Washington State Bar associations. He was the father of Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft.
The University of California College of the Law, San Francisco is a public law school in San Francisco, California, United States. It was previously known as the University of California, Hastings College of the Law from 1878 to 2023.
K&L Gates LLP is an American multinational corporation law firm based in the United States, with international offices in Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, and South America. Its namesake firms are Kirkpatrick & Lockhart, a Pittsburgh-based firm founded as Kirkpatrick, Pomeroy, Lockhart & Johnson in 1946, and Preston Gates & Ellis, a Seattle firm founded in 1883 whose prominent partners included William H. Gates Sr., the attorney, philanthropist, and father of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. Kirkpatrick & Lockhart merged with Preston Gates in 2007 to form K&L Gates, LLP.
Peter Alden Magowan was an American businessman. He was the managing general partner of the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball from 1993 to 2008. He was the chief executive officer of Safeway Inc. from 1979 through 1993.
Preston Gates & Ellis, LLP, also known as Preston Gates, was a law firm with offices in the United States, China, and Taiwan. Its main office was in the IDX Tower in Seattle. In 2007, the firm merged with Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham to form K&L Gates.
James Skelly Wright was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and previously was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.
William James Ware is a retired United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.
The 2008 San Francisco Giants season was the Giants' 126th year in Major League Baseball, and their ninth at AT&T Park. The team finished in fourth place in the National League West with a 72–90 record, 12 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers. 2008 marks their 50th Anniversary in the Bay Area since moving from New York in 1958. It is also their first since 1992 without all-time home run champion Barry Bonds, who was not re-signed following the 2007 season. At the end of the season, Tim Lincecum was voted the 2008 National League Cy Young Award winner.
The World Justice Project (WJP) is an international civil society organization with the stated mission of "working to advance the rule of law around the world". It produces the World Justice Project Rule of Law Index, a quantitative assessment tool that shows the extent to which countries adhere to the rule of law in practice. WJP's major activity is the World Justice Forum, a global gathering at which prominent leaders from all parts of the world and a variety of disciplines come together to articulate how the rule of law affects their disciplines and regions and to develop collaborative actions to strengthen the rule of law.
Mark A. Lemley is currently the William H. Neukom Professor of Law at Stanford Law School and the Director of the Stanford Law School Program in Law, Science & Technology, as well as a founding partner of the law firm of Durie Tangri LLP, which he has been practicing with since 2009.
Laurence Monroe Baer is an American businessman. He is best known as the president and chief executive officer of the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball. He succeeded Bill Neukom on January 1, 2012.
John Joseph Fisher is an American businessman. He is the principal owner of the Oakland Athletics of Major League Baseball, the San Jose Earthquakes of Major League Soccer, and the Texas Rattlers of the Professional Bull Riders organization.
The San Francisco Recreation & Parks Department is the city agency responsible for governing and maintaining all city-owned parks and recreational facilities in San Francisco, as well as Sharp Park Golf Course in Pacifica and Camp Mather in Tuolumne County. Current facilities include 4,113 acres (1,664 ha) of total recreational and open space with 3,400 acres (1,376 ha) of that land within San Francisco. The department runs 179 playgrounds and play areas, 82 recreation centers and clubhouses, nine swimming pools, five golf courses, 151 tennis courts, 72 basketball courts, 59 soccer fields, numerous baseball diamonds, and other sports venues.
Mark D. Fabiani is an American political strategist, crisis management expert, former Deputy Mayor of Los Angeles and chief of staff to Mayor Tom Bradley, and former White House lawyer and spokesman. He is recognized for his work as special counsel to President Bill Clinton and legal spokesperson for the Clinton White House from 1994 through 1996, as well as for his work as head of communications for the Gore presidential campaign in 2000. He also served in senior positions at the Department of Housing and Urban Development and at the Department of Justice.
David Sen-Fu Chiu is an American politician currently serving as the City Attorney of San Francisco. Previously, he served in the California State Assembly as a Democrat representing the 17th Assembly District, which encompasses the eastern half of San Francisco. Chiu was Chair of the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee, a position he held from 2016 to 2021, and the former chair of the California Asian & Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus.
Bradford Lee Smith is an American attorney and business executive who became vice chairman of Microsoft in 2021, and president in 2015. He previously was a senior vice president and general counsel from 2002 to 2015.
Matthew Craig Haney is an American politician from San Francisco currently serving as a member of the California State Assembly from the 17th district, covering the eastern portion of the city. A progressive member of the Democratic Party, Haney had represented District 6 on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors from 2019 to 2022 and previously served as a commissioner on the San Francisco Board of Education from 2013 to 2019.