Jody Allen | |
---|---|
Born | Jo Lynn Allen February 3, 1959 Seattle, Washington, U.S. |
Other names | Jody Patton, Jo Lynn Patton, Jo Allen, Jody Allen Patton, Jo Allen Patton |
Alma mater | Whitman College |
Occupation(s) | Vice-chair of First & Goal Inc. Co-founder of Vulcan Inc. President of Vulcan Productions |
Spouse | Brian Patton (m. 1988;div. 2009) |
Children | 3 |
Relatives | Paul Allen (brother) |
Jo Lynn "Jody" Allen (born February 3, 1959) is an American businesswoman, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. She is the sister of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, and served as the chief executive officer of his investment and project management company, Vulcan Inc., from its founding in 1986 until 2015. [1] [2] She is also the co-founder and president of the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation. [3]
Following the death of her brother in October 2018, Allen was named executor and trustee of his estate, pursuant to his instructions, giving her responsibility for overseeing the execution of his will and settling his affairs with tax authorities and parties with an interest in his projects. [4] Among some of the properties she took control of upon his death were the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL), the Octopus super-yacht, and the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association (NBA), along with minority ownership of the Seattle Sounders FC of Major League Soccer (MLS). [5] [6]
Allen was born in Seattle, Washington on February 3, 1959, the daughter of schoolteacher Edna Faye ( née Gardner) Allen [7] and Kenneth Sam Allen, an associate director of the University of Washington Libraries. [7] [8] Her older brother Paul went on to become co-founder of Microsoft Corporation. [9] She grew up in Seattle's Wedgwood neighborhood and graduated from Lakeside School in 1975. [9] [10] She studied drama at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, and was a member of the class of 1980. [10] [11] [12]
In 1986, Allen co-founded Vulcan Inc. with her brother to manage their family's business and charitable endeavors. [2] Vulcan's former chief financial officer described her as being "responsible for having the trains run on time" and said she had "a particular passion for real estate development, building things in general." [13]
She currently serves as vice-chair of First & Goal Inc., which oversees operations of the Seattle Seahawks. [2] She was involved in negotiating the public-private partnership that led to the construction of Lumen Field in Seattle, and was an adviser to her brother when he first considered buying the Seahawks. [14] [15] In 1997, a Seattle reporter wrote: "Jody Patton thought buying the Seahawks was a great idea; thus was born Allen's efforts to acquire the team and build a new football stadium." [15]
During her career Allen also supervised construction of the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon, renovation of the Seattle Cinerama, and also helped bring the EMP Museum (now the Museum of Pop Culture or MoPOP) to Seattle. [11] She is also president of Vulcan Productions, a company that produces films, digital programs, and outreach initiatives, and has produced or executive-produced more than a dozen documentaries and feature films. [16] [17] In 2013, she signed on as a backer of two documentaries, the Richard E. Robbins-directed film Girl Rising and the nuclear power documentary Pandora's Promise . [18] [19]
In 2013, five of her former security guards accused her of sexual harassment, and extensive unethical activity, including bribing customs officials to smuggle animal bones out of Africa and Antarctica. [20] The lawsuits were eventually settled out of court. [21]
Allen co-founded the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation in 1990. [3] Since then, the foundation has given more than $469 million in grants to over 1,400 nonprofit organizations. [22]
Allen is the president of the board of trustees of the Museum of Pop Culture, a nonprofit museum dedicated to pop culture and music. [3] [23] The Seattle Times credited Allen with helping her brother make the museum a reality: "Although Allen gets most of the credit...it is the brainchild of both these close siblings. Allen provided the money and inspiration; Patton, as executive director, is largely responsible for the vision that made it happen." [11]
With her brother, Allen co-founded the Seattle-based non-profit organization Allen Institute for Brain Science in 2003, of which she serves as chairman of the board. The Institute provides free online public resources to scientists around the world. [24] [25] Other boards on which she has served include those of the Seahawks Charitable Foundation, ArtsFund, the Theatre Communications Group, the University of Washington Foundation, the Museum of Glass, the Los Angeles Film Festival and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. [3]
Allen has three children: Duncan (born 1989), Gardner (born 1994) and Faye (born 1997) with Brian Patton, whom she divorced in 2009 after 21 years of marriage. [8] [11] [26] [27] Allen's ex-husband is a golf-course manager. [27] [28] She was known as Jody Patton, Jody Allen Patton and Jo Allen Patton while married. [11] [29] [30]
She is a member of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society [31] and the Explorers Club. [32]
As of 2009 [update] , Allen lives on Mercer Island, Washington. [13]
Paul Gardner Allen was an American businessman, computer programmer, researcher, film producer, explorer, sports executive, investor and philanthropist. He co-founded Microsoft Corporation with his childhood friend Bill Gates in 1975, which was followed by the microcomputer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s. Allen was ranked as the 44th-wealthiest person in the world by Forbes with an estimated net worth of $20.3 billion at the time of his death in October 2018.
The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 as part of a conference realignment. The club entered the NFL as an expansion team in 1976 in the NFC. From 1977 to 2001, Seattle was assigned to the American Football Conference (AFC) West. They have played their home games at Lumen Field in Seattle's SoDo neighborhood since 2002, having previously played home games in the Kingdome (1976–1999) and Husky Stadium.
The Museum of Pop Culture is a nonprofit museum in Seattle, Washington, United States, dedicated to contemporary popular culture. It was founded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen in 2000 as the Experience Music Project. Since then MoPOP has organized dozens of exhibits, 17 of which have toured across the U.S. and internationally.
Lumen Field is a multi-purpose stadium in Seattle, Washington, United States. Located in the city's SoDo neighborhood, it is the home field for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL), Seattle Sounders FC of Major League Soccer (MLS), and Seattle Reign FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Originally called Seahawks Stadium, it was renamed Qwest Field in June 2004 when telecommunications carrier Qwest acquired the naming rights. The stadium became known as CenturyLink Field following Qwest's June 2011 acquisition by CenturyLink and was nicknamed "The Clink" as a result; it received its current name in November 2020 with CenturyLink's rebrand to Lumen Technologies. It is a modern facility with views of the Downtown Seattle skyline and a seating capacity of 68,740 spectators for NFL games and 37,722 for most MLS matches. The complex also includes the Event Center which is home to the Washington Music Theater, a parking garage, and a public plaza. The venue hosts concerts, trade shows, and consumer shows along with sporting events. Located within a mile (1.6 km) of Downtown Seattle, the stadium is accessible by multiple freeways and forms of mass transit.
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Vale Group LLC, doing business as Vulcan Real Estate, is an American private holding company based in Seattle, Washington. The company was founded as Vulcan Inc. in 1986 by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and his sister Jody Allen to establish and oversee the family's diverse business activities and philanthropic endeavors. It includes the Paul G. Allen Estate and Trust and advises the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation.
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Kenneth Eugene Behring was an American real estate developer, and former owner of the National Football League's Seattle Seahawks.
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Joshua Allen Portis is an American former professional football quarterback. He was highly touted as one of the nation's top dual-threat quarterback prospects out of high school. Portis attended the University of Florida for one season and then transferred to the University of Maryland. In 2009, he transferred again to Division II California University of Pennsylvania, where he set school records with 3,421 passing yards, 36 touchdowns and 3,870 total offensive yards throwing.
Vulcan Productions produced documentary films, television programming and virtual reality experiences that drove awareness around environmental and social issues. The company was founded in 1997 by late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and his sister Jody Allen. It closed in 2021.
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