Heidi Roizen (born 1958) is a

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that is a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical area of the Santa Clara Valley ...

executive,

venture capital Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to start-up company, startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in ...

ist, and entrepreneur. She is known for speaking out against the harassment of women in technology, having herself received harassment in the past.

Early life and education

Roizen was born in 1958 in

Stanford, California Stanford is a census-designated place (CDP) in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States. It is the home of Stanford University, after which it was named. The CDP's population was 21,150 at the United States Census, ...

. She graduated from

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

in 1980 with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

in English and earned her

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business three years later.

Career

From 1983 to 1996, Roizen co-founded, together with her brother Peter Roizen, the

T/Maker T/Maker (Table Maker) was one of the first spreadsheet programs designed for the personal computer user and released by Peter Roizen in 1979. The application ran on CP/M, TRSDOS, and later on MS-DOS computers. T/Maker was originally distributed ...

Company, which made software for

CP/M CP/M, originally standing for Control Program/Monitor and later Control Program for Microcomputers, is a mass-market operating system created in 1974 for Intel 8080/Intel 8085, 85-based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research, Dig ...

and

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few op ...

computers, and later for the

Apple Macintosh Mac is a brand of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 1984. The name is short for Macintosh (its official name until 1999), a reference to the McIntosh (apple), McIntosh apple. The current product lineup inclu ...

. From 1987 until 1994, Roizen also served on the

board of directors A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

of the

Software Publishers Association The Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA) is a trade association dedicated to the entertainment, consumer and business software industries. Established in 1984 as the Software Publishers Association (SPA), the SIIA took its new nam ...

and was its president from 1988 to 1990. From 1996 to 1997, Roizen was Vice President of World Wide Developer Relations for

Apple Inc Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, in Silicon Valley. It is best known for its consumer electronics, software, and services. Founded in 1976 as Apple Computer ...

. She also served on the board of Great Plains Software from 1997 until its acquisition by

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

in 2001. Roizen also served as the Public Governor of the

Pacific Exchange The Pacific Exchange was an American regional stock exchange in California, from 1956 to 2006. Its main exchange floor and building were in San Francisco, California, with a branch building in Los Angeles, California. In 1882, the San Francisc ...

and on the executive committee of the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA). Roizen entered the venture capital world in 1999, first as a Managing Director of SOFTBANK Venture Capital (which became Mobius Venture Capital), from 1999 to 2007, and then in 2012 she joined global investor

Draper Fisher Jurvetson Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) is an American venture capital firm. In January 2019, DFJ Venture, the early-stage team, spun out and formed Threshold Ventures. DFJ Growth continues to be managed by co-founder John Fisher and co-founders Mark Ba ...

as a venture partner. She also launched her own entrepreneurial venture, SkinnySongs, In September 2008, the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs and Executives awarded Heidi Roizen their annual Achievement Award. In June 2009, Roizen was elected to the Board of Directors of

TiVo TiVo ( ) is a digital video recorder (DVR) developed and marketed by Xperi (previously by TiVo Corporation and TiVo Inc.) and introduced in 1999. TiVo provides an on-screen guide of scheduled broadcast programming television programs, whose fea ...

, and in September 2012, she was elected to the board of

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

-based media conglomerate

Daily Mail and General Trust Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) is a British multinational media conglomerate, the owner of the '' Daily Mail'' and several other titles. The 4th Viscount Rothermere is the chair and controlling shareholder of the company. The head office ...

(known as owners of the ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily Middle-market newspaper, middle-market Tabloid journalism, tabloid conservative newspaper founded in 1896 and published in London. , it has the List of newspapers in the United Kingdom by circulation, h ...

'' and its digital counterpart, '' Mail Online).'' At the time she was elected, she became the first female director in the company's 116-year history. In 2010, Roizen was named a Lecturer and Entrepreneurship Educator at Stanford University, where she teaches the course 'Spirit of Entrepreneurship' in the MS&E (Engineering) department.

Awards and recognition

Roizen was awarded 2018 Financial Woman of the Year by Financial Women of San Francisco.

References

External links

Heidi Roizen’s personal websiteForum for Women Entrepreneurs & Executives Gives Roizen Achievement Award for 2008Interview on Fresh Dialogues Nov 2008 re. Skinny Songs Fresh Dialogues Interview Dec 2008 re. Tips for EntrepreneursEntrepreneurial Heroes
podcast interview with NCWIT
Forbes.com - Untold Stories About Steve Jobs: Friends and Colleagues Share Their Memories Forbes.com - Heidi Roizen, Looking Outside Silicon Valley 'Cocoon,' Joins Daily Mail's Board Forbes.com - How To Build A Unicorn From Scratch -- And Walk Away With Nothingmedium.com - What *not* to do in a venture pitch meeting
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roizen, Heidi 1958 births Living people American computer businesspeople Apple Inc. employees Stanford Graduate School of Business alumni People from Stanford, California American venture capitalists Women venture capitalists American women investors 21st-century American businesswomen 21st-century American businesspeople 20th-century American businesswomen 20th-century American businesspeople