Guy Primus (born July 1969), is an American entrepreneur and inventor. He is chief executive officer of Valence Enterprises, and is a member of the Board of Trustees of Southern California Public Radio. He is also the chairman emeritus of the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering advisory board at

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Established in 1885, it has the lar ...

. Born in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

, he grew up in a middle-class neighborhood. After graduating from

Penn Hills High School Penn Hills High School is a public secondary school located in Penn Hills, east of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It is the sole high school operated by the Penn Hills School District. In the 2018–19 school year, enrollment was report ...

, he attended

, earning a BS in Industrial Engineering in 1992 and an MS in Industrial Engineering in 1995. He graduated from

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate school, graduate business school of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university. Located in Allston, Massachusetts, HBS owns Harvard Business Publishing, which p ...

in 2000. He is also a member of

Kappa Alpha Psi Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. () is a List of African-American fraternities, historically African American Fraternities and sororities, fraternity. Since the fraternity's founding on January 5, 1911, at Indiana University Bloomington, it has n ...

fraternity. In 2018, Primus earned a patent for his invention "Emotion-based experience feedback." Primus was recognized by

Black Enterprise ''Black Enterprise'' (stylized in all caps) is an American multimedia company. A Black-owned business since the 1970s, its flagship product ''Black Enterprise'' magazine has covered African American businesses with a readership of 3.7 mil ...

as one of the most influential Black people in technology and is a 2017

Ebony Ebony is a dense black/brown hardwood, coming from several species in the genus '' Diospyros'', which also includes the persimmon tree. A few ''Diospyros'' species, such as macassar and mun ebony, are dense enough to sink in water. Ebony is fin ...

Power 100 honoree. In 2013, he was named a Captain of Industry by the

Institute of Industrial Engineers The Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE), formerly the Institute of Industrial Engineers, is a professional society dedicated solely to the support of the industrial engineering profession and individuals involved with improving ...

Early life and education

Guy Primus was born in 1969 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Primus is a 1987 graduate of Penn Hills High School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he earned a National Achievement scholarship. He earned his BS in

Industrial Engineering Industrial engineering (IE) is concerned with the design, improvement and installation of integrated systems of people, materials, information, equipment and energy. It draws upon specialized knowledge and skill in the mathematical, physical, an ...

from Georgia tech in 1992 and was president of the African American Student Union. He received his MS in Industrial Engineering from Georgia Tech in 1995 and his MBA from Harvard Business School in 2000.

Career

After graduating from Georgia Tech with his master's degree, Primus started his career as at CAPS Logistics, a logistics software company started by his mentor and former professor, H. Donald Ratliff before becoming a consultant with A.T. Kearney in

Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city (United States), independent city in Northern Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of Washington, D.C., D.C. The city's population of 159,467 at the 2020 ...

. Primus left Kearney in 1998 to pursue his MBA, and, upon graduating from Harvard Business School, he combined his passions of technology and media to start an online market research company called UrbanIQ, which later became the basis for Blue Flame Marketing + Advertising, the agency founded by entertainment mogul

Sean Combs Sean John Combs (born November 4, 1969), better known by his stage name Diddy, and formerly Puff Daddy and P. Diddy, is an American rapper, record producer, and record executive. Born in Harlem and raised in Mount Vernon, New York, Mount Ve ...

. After leaving Blue Flame, Primus joined Microsoft, where he became group product marketing manager for MSN Entertainment. There, he conceived "The Scenario" which was recognized as Best Branded Entertainment Experience at the 2005 ad:Tech awards. Primus then joined

Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational List of coffeehouse chains, chain of coffeehouses and Starbucks Reserve, roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1971 by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gor ...

as head of digital media for Starbucks Entertainment where he led the creation of the popular Pick of the Week program for Starbucks and

Apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

. Primus was then recruited to

Overbrook Entertainment Overbrook Entertainment, Inc. is an American production company based in Culver City, California. It was founded by partners Will Smith and James Lassiter in 1998, around the same time production for ''Wild Wild West'' (1999) began. The name "Ove ...

to launch the company's digital media group. He eventually rose to the position of

Chief Operating Officer A chief operating officer (COO), also called chief operations officer, is an executive in charge of the daily operations of an organization (i.e. personnel, resources, and logistics). COOs are usually second-in-command immediately after the C ...

, reporting directly to co-chief executive officers

Will Smith Willard Carroll Smith II (born September 25, 1968) is an American actor, rapper, and film producer. Known for his work in both Will Smith filmography, the screen and Will Smith discography, music industries, List of awards and nominations re ...

and

James Lassiter James Lassiter is an American film producer and talent agent. He served as the manager of American rapper and actor Will Smith before the two co-founded the production company Overbrook Entertainment in 1998. Also Smith's business partner, Lass ...

. While at Overbrook, Primus co-founded Tentpole Ventures, a seed-stage investment vehicle whose portfolio includes

Pinterest Pinterest is an American social media service for publishing and discovery of information in the form of digital Bulletin board, pinboards. This includes recipes, home, style, motivation, and inspiration on the Internet using image sharing. Pint ...

and

Dollar Shave Club Dollar Shave Club, Inc. is an American company based in Venice, California, that delivers razors and other personal grooming products to customers by mail. It delivers razor blades on a monthly basis and offers additional grooming products fo ...

. Primus left Overbrook in 2013 to pursue entrepreneurial endeavors and co-founded The Core Venture Studio and The Collider co-working space before co-founding The Virtual Reality Company with

Robert Stromberg Robert Stromberg is an American special effects artist, designer and Filmmaking, filmmaker. His credits include films such as James Cameron's ''Avatar (2009 film), Avatar'', Tim Burton's ''Alice in Wonderland (2010 film), Alice in Wonderland'', ...

, Chris Edwards and Joel Newton. He became their chief executive officer in the summer of 2015 and served as an executive producer of the Martian VR, which won a Cannes Lions award, Raising a Rukus, which won a Lumiere Award, and Jurassic WorldVR Expedition, which was named as Best Location-Based VR Experience by

UploadVR UVR Media, LLC (formerly UploadVR, Inc. and Upload, Inc.) is an American media company that operates ''UploadVR'', a virtual reality-focused trade publication website. The company was founded as UploadVR in 2014 by Taylor Freeman, Will Mason, ...

Personal life

Guy Primus is married to Heather Thompson Primus and the couple has two children, Grant and Clarke. He is a two time judge of th
InVenture Prize
venture competition, He is also a member of the Television Academy. Primus assisted former

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and Delaware General Corporation Law, incorporated in Delaware. Intel designs, manufactures, and sells computer compo ...

chief executive officerO Paul Otellini on the President's Jobs Council

References

External links

The Virtual Reality Company

Georgia Tech School of Industrial and Systems Engineering

InVenture Prize20152014
{{DEFAULTSORT:Primus, Guy Living people 1969 births American chief operating officers Harvard Business School alumni Georgia Tech alumni American chief executives