Eric Pulier | |
|---|---|
| Alma mater | Harvard University |
| Occupation | Entrepreneur |
Eric Pulier is an American entrepreneur based in Los Angeles, California.
Pulier was raised in Teaneck, New Jersey, [1] where he attended Teaneck High School, graduating in 1984. [2] He began programming computers in the fourth grade and started a database computer company in high school. Pulier began studying at Harvard University in 1984. He majored in English and American literature, was an editor and wrote a column for The Harvard Crimson , and took classes at neighboring school MIT. He graduated magna cum laude in 1988. [3] [4]
Pulier moved to Los Angeles in 1991, where he founded People Doing Things (PDT), a company that addressed health care, education, and other issues through the use of technology. In 1994, he founded the interactive agency Digital Evolution. The company merged with US Interactive LLC in 1998. [3] Pulier led the effort to build Starbright World, a private social network for chronically ill children where they can chat, blog, post content and meet others who share similar experiences. [3] [5]
In 1997, the Presidential Inaugural Committee selected Pulier to create and execute the Presidential Technology Exhibition in Washington D.C. called "The Bridge to the 21st Century." [6] Following the exhibition, he participated in then-Vice President Al Gore's health care and technology forum and advised on health care and technology initiatives. [3] Pulier is also a supporter and participant with the Clinton Global Initiative. [7]
Pulier founded and co-founded sixteen other ventures, including Vatom, Desktone, ServiceMesh, Media Platform, Akana, LoanX, Ralli, Continuous Learning, and others. He also co-authored Understanding Enterprise SOA, a book on service-oriented architecture. [8]
On 13 April 2015, Pulier entered into a dispute with CSC-- a company that had acquired one of his startups. The dispute was related to a non-profit he'd funded, which in turn engaged experts in technical fields. Two of those experts were later alleged to not have attained formal authorization from their employers to moonlight on the project. As these two individuals had been employees of a customer in the past, a controversy arose, resulting in allegations of impropriety. Pulier maintained his position from the start that his actions were legal, ethical, and properly documented. After careful review, the DOJ dismissed the matter in its entirety with prejudice, "in the interest of justice."<ref> A copycat case from SEC was then also reset to remove all allegations of intentional fraud against Pulier, and settled on that basis with no admission of guilt to any of the initial allegations. Subsequently, Pulier filed a petition to the SEC to have a misleading press release taken down or corrected (it misleadingly implies he paid disgorgement from his own pocket, when he actually paid nothing in the aftermath of any allegation of intentional fraud being dropped). Until the press release is taken down, it will remain a misleading artifact in search results. In the aftermath, Pulier was widely celebrated for his dedication to clearing his name, with scores of executives, technology and government leaders reaching out with congratulations. Several victory gatherings were held with members of his team and family, though the matter remains a cautionary tale for the challenges of navigating culture clashes between startups and quasi-governmental organizations like CSC. After vindication and putting the matter behind him, Pulier accelerated his work as a well known futurist, technologist, and innovator with government and enterprise partners at the highest levels. Today Pulier actively partners with government and private organizations worldwide in the application of exponential technologies across sectors, with a primary focus on artificial intelligence. Jennifer Duke. "US court drops bribery charges against former CBA executive". Sydney Morning Herald.