Glen Meakem (born in

New York, New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

) is an American

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...

and founder & CEO of a permanent cloud photo storage and sharing company called Forever. He is also a former

radio host A radio personality (American English) or radio presenter (British English) is a person who has an on-air position in radio broadcasting. A radio personality who hosts a radio show is also known as a radio host, and in India and Pakistan as a radi ...

based in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

Early life and education

Meakem was the second of five children, raised in

Armonk, New York Armonk is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the town of North Castle, located in Westchester County, New York, United States. The corporate headquarters of IBM are located in Armonk. Geography and climate As of the 2010 census, A ...

. He graduated ''

cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

'' with an

A.B. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

in 1986. He served as a combat engineer officer in the

United States Army Reserve The United States Army Reserve (USAR) is a reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the Army element of the reserve components of the United States Armed Forces. Since July 2020, ...

. In 1990-1991, he volunteered to return to active duty in the Army, took a leave of absence from

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...

, and served as a platoon leader in

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries by area, fifth-largest country in Asia ...

and

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

during the

First Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

. After the war, Meakem returned to

and completed his

M.B.A. A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

in 1992.

Career

Meakem worked for General Electric Information Services, but left in 1995 to start his own company, FreeMarkets Inc., a software company that offers services to the Global Supply Management market. He sold the company for $500 million. Between 2005 and 2012, Meakem founded and led an early-stage venture capital firm called Meakem Becker Venture Capital (MBVC). MBVC invested in a number of technology companies, including Kiva Systems (sold to

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology co ...

), HotPads (sold to

Zillow Zillow Group, Inc., or simply Zillow, is an American tech real-estate marketplace company that was founded in 2006, and was created by Rich Barton and Lloyd Frink, former Microsoft executives and founders of Microsoft spin-off Expedia; Spencer R ...

), Shipwire (sold to

Ingram Micro Ingram Micro is an American distributor of information technology products and services. The company is based in Irvine, California, U.S. and has operations around the world. History Ingram Micro's origins trace back to the founding of distrib ...

), and CloudMeter (sold to

Splunk Splunk Inc. is an American software company based in San Francisco, California, that produces software for searching, monitoring, and analyzing machine-generated data via a Web-style interface. Its software helps capture, index and correlate ...

). He sat on the

board of directors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

of Akustica, and is

Chairman of the Board The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...

of both SEEC and Niche. He is a trustee for

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technolog ...

Grove City College Grove City College (GCC) is a private, conservative Christian liberal arts college in Grove City, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1876 as a normal school, the college emphasizes a humanities core curriculum and offers 60 majors and 6 pre-professional ...

Pittsburgh Cultural Trust The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust (PCT) is a nonprofit arts organization formed in 1984 to promote economic and cultural development in Downtown Pittsburgh. The "Trust" has focused its work on a 14-square block section called the Cultural District, wh ...

, the Urban League of Pittsburgh and the

Extra Mile Education Foundation The Extra Mile Education Foundation is a privately funded, non-profit charity 501(3)(c) based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, founded in 1989. The money raised by the charity is used to subsidize the tuition of low income students who attend several ...

. From March 2008 until June 2015, he hosted ''Glen Meakem on the Weekend'', a talk radio program about what it takes to be successful in business and life; the program aired initially on

WPGB WPGB (104.7 MHz) is a commercial FM radio station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It broadcasts a country music format and is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. The studios and offices are on Fleet Street, off the Penn-Lincoln Highway (Interstate 376) ...

104.7 until the station flipped formats to country music in August 2014, when it moved to

WJAS WJAS (1320 AM) is a commercial radio station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The station has a talk radio format, and uses the slogan "The Talk of Pittsburgh". It is owned by St. Barnabas Broadcasting, a division of the Saint Barnabas Health Syste ...

1320. He gave up the program to spend more time with his family and on another business he started, a cloud-storage host, Forever.com.

Politics

Meakem served as campaign chairman for William Scranton, III, the former

Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania The lieutenant governor is a constitutional officer of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The lieutenant governor is elected for a four-year term in the same year as the governor. Each party picks a candidate for lieutenant governor independently o ...

, during the 2006 campaign for the Republican nomination for Governor. He reportedly considered involving himself in a primary challenge to

incumbent The incumbent is the current holder of an office or position, usually in relation to an election. In an election for president, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the office of president before the election, whether seeking re-el ...

Republican

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the ...

Arlen Specter Arlen Specter (February 12, 1930 – October 14, 2012) was an American lawyer, author and politician who served as a United States Senator from Pennsylvania from 1981 to 2011. Specter was a Democrat from 1951 to 1965, then a Republican fr ...

in 2010, due to opposition to Specter's support of the federal stimulus package. He was mentioned by the ''

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette The ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', also known simply as the PG, is the largest newspaper serving metropolitan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Descended from the ''Pittsburgh Gazette'', established in 1786 as the first newspaper published west of the Al ...

'' and the ''

National Journal ''National Journal'' is an advisory services company based in Washington, D.C., offering services in government affairs, advocacy communications, stakeholder mapping, and policy brands research for government and business leaders. It publishes d ...

'' as a possible candidate for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate to challenge incumbent Democrat

Bob Casey Jr. Robert Patrick Casey Jr. (born April 13, 1960) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Pennsylvania, a seat he has held since 2007. A member of the Democratic Party, Casey previously served as Penn ...

in the

2012 election This national electoral calendar for 2012 lists the national/ federal elections held in 2012 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *3–4 January: ...

. In 2010, ''Politics Magazine'' named him one of the most influential Republicans in Pennsylvania.

Personal

References

External links

Meakem Becker Venture CapitalGlenmeakem.comForever
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meakem, Glen Living people Harvard Business School alumni Political activists from Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Republicans American talk radio hosts Radio personalities from Pittsburgh People from Armonk, New York People from Sewickley, Pennsylvania Year of birth missing (living people)