Jo Lynn "Jody" Allen (born February 3, 1959) is an American businesswoman, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. She is the younger sister of

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 ...

co-founder

Paul Allen Paul Gardner Allen (January 21, 1953 – October 15, 2018) was an American businessman, computer programmer, and investor. He co-founded Microsoft, Microsoft Corporation with his childhood friend Bill Gates in 1975, which was followed by the ...

, and served as the chief executive officer of his investment and project management company, Vulcan Inc., from its founding in 1986 until 2015. She is also the co-founder and president of the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation. 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. Among some of the properties she took control of upon his death were the

Seattle Seahawks 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) NFC West, West division. The club entered the NFL a ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL), the ''Octopus'' super-yacht, and the

Portland Trail Blazers The Portland Trail Blazers (colloquially known as the Blazers) are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. The Trail Blazers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division (N ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

(NBA), along with minority ownership of the

Seattle Sounders FC Seattle Sounders FC is an American professional association football, soccer club based in Seattle. The Sounders compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The club was established on ...

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

(MLS).

Early life and education

Allen was born in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

, Washington, on February 3, 1959, the daughter of schoolteacher Edna Faye ( Gardner) AllenMaureen O'Hagan
Faye Allen, mother of Microsoft co-founder, dies at 90
, ''

The Seattle Times ''The Seattle Times'' is an American daily newspaper based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1891, ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region. The Seattle Time ...

'', June 3, 2012 and Kenneth Sam Allen, an associate director of the

University of Washington Libraries The University of Washington Libraries (UW Libraries) is the academic library system of the University of Washington, based in Seattle, Washington, United States. It serves the Seattle, Tacoma, and Bothell campuses of the University of Wash ...

. Her older brother

Paul Paul may refer to: People * Paul (given name), a given name, including a list of people * Paul (surname), a list of people * Paul the Apostle, an apostle who wrote many of the books of the New Testament * Ray Hildebrand, half of the singing duo ...

went on to become co-founder of

Microsoft Corporation 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 ...

.William Plummer
Paul Allen: Rich and Reclusive, Microsoft's Other Cofounder Goes Hollywood
, ''

People The term "the people" refers to the public or Common people, common mass of people of a polity. As such it is a concept of human rights law, international law as well as constitutional law, particularly used for claims of popular sovereignty. I ...

'', June 19, 1995 She grew up in Seattle's

Wedgwood Wedgwood is an English China (material), fine china, porcelain and luxury accessories manufacturer that was founded on 1 May 1759 by the potter and entrepreneur Josiah Wedgwood and was first incorporated in 1895 as Josiah Wedgwood and Sons L ...

neighborhood and graduated from Lakeside School in 1975. She studied drama at

Whitman College Whitman College is a private liberal arts college in Walla Walla, Washington. The school offers 53 majors and 33 minors in the liberal arts and sciences, and it has a student-to-faculty ratio of 9:1. Founded as a seminary by a territorial l ...

Walla Walla, Washington Walla Walla ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Walla Walla County, Washington, United States. It had a population of 34,060 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, estimated to have decreased to 33,339 as of 2023. The combined populat ...

, and was a member of the class of 1980.

Career

In 1986, Allen co-founded Vulcan Inc. with her brother to manage their family's business and charitable endeavors. 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." She currently serves as vice-chair of First & Goal Inc., which oversees operations of the

. She was involved in negotiating the public-private partnership that led to the construction of

Lumen Field 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 ...

in Seattle, and was an adviser to her brother when he first considered buying the Seahawks.Brier Dudley
Seahawks Sign Lease For 30 Years At New Stadium
''

'', September 25, 1998Linda Keene
The Enigmatic Paul Allen -- Everyone Knows What He Does, But Few Really Know Who He Is
''

'', June 11, 1997 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." During her career Allen also supervised construction of the

Moda Center Moda Center, formerly known as the Rose Garden, is the primary indoor sports arena in Portland, Oregon, United States. It is used for basketball, rodeos, circuses, conventions, ice shows, concerts, and dramatic productions. The arena has a capa ...

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

, renovation of the

Seattle Cinerama The SIFF Cinema Downtown, formerly the Seattle Cinerama, is a landmark movie theater in the Belltown neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, United States. The theater opened in 1963 and was renovated in the 1990s after its acquisition by Paul All ...

, and also helped bring the

EMP Museum The Museum of Pop Culture (or MoPOP) 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 ...

(now the Museum of Pop Culture or MoPOP) to Seattle.Melanie McFarland and Patrick MacDonald
The EMP has been 'long, major journey'
''

'', June 23, 2000 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. In 2013, she signed on as a backer of two documentaries, the

Richard E. Robbins Richard E. Robbins is an American filmmaker and documentary maker, who has produced and directed several documentaries for ABC and PBS. The most notable is '' Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience'', which puts forward the perspe ...

-directed film ''Girl Rising'' and the nuclear power documentary '' Pandora's Promise''.Rebecca Ford
'Girl Rising' Picked Up by Regal Cinemas for Weeklong Engagement
, ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'', April 5, 2013Kerry A. Dolan
Why Billionaire Paul Allen Backed Pro-Nuclear Power Film Pandora's Promise
, ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

'', June 14, 2013

Controversies

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.Levi Pulkkinen
Bodyguards: Vulcan CEO Allen tried to smuggle bones out of Africa
, ''

Seattle Post-Intelligencer The ''Seattle Post-Intelligencer'' (popularly known as the ''Seattle P-I'', the ''Post-Intelligencer'', or simply the ''P-I'') is an online newspaper and former print newspaper based in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington, United States. Th ...

'', February 28, 2013 The lawsuits were eventually settled out of court.

Philanthropy

Allen co-founded the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation in 1990. Since then, the foundation has given more than $469 million in grants to over 1,400 nonprofit organizations.The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation’s New $6.87M Grant Cycle Lends Strong Support to Scientific Research
'' Paul G. Allen Family Foundation'', August 5, 2013 Allen is the president of the board of trustees of the Museum of Pop Culture, a nonprofit museum dedicated to pop culture and music. The ''

Seattle Times ''The Seattle Times'' is an American daily newspaper based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1891, ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region. The Seattle Time ...

'' 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." With her brother, Allen co-founded the Seattle-based non-profit organization

Allen Institute for Brain Science The Allen Institute for Brain Science is a division of the Allen Institute, based in Seattle, Washington, that focuses on bioscience research. Founded in 2003, it is dedicated to accelerating the understanding of how the human brain works. Wit ...

in 2003, of which she serves as chairman of the board. The Institute provides free online public resources to scientists around the world. Other boards on which she has served include those of the Seahawks Charitable Foundation, ArtsFund, the

Theatre Communications Group Theatre Communications Group (TCG) is a non-profit service organization headquartered in New York City that promotes professional non-profit theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, us ...

, the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

Foundation, the

Museum of Glass The Museum of Glass (MOG) is a contemporary art museum in Tacoma, Washington, dedicated to the medium of glass. Since its founding in 2002, the Museum of Glass has been committed to creating a space for the celebration of the studio glass movem ...

, the

Los Angeles Film Festival The LA Film Festival was an annual film festival that was held in Los Angeles, California, and usually took place in June. It showcased independent, international, feature, documentary and short films, as well as web series, music videos, episodi ...

and the

Oregon Shakespeare Festival The Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) is a regional Repertory, repertory theatre in Ashland, Oregon, United States, founded in 1935 by Angus L. Bowmer. The Festival now offers matinee and evening performances of a wide range of classic and conte ...

Personal life

Allen has three children with Brian Patton, whom she divorced in 2009 after 21 years of marriage. Allen's ex-husband is a golf-course manager. She was known as Jody Patton, Jody Allen Patton and Jo Allen Patton while married. She is a member of the

Royal Canadian Geographical Society The Royal Canadian Geographical Society (RCGS; French: ''Société géographique royale du Canada'') is a Canadian nonprofit educational organization. It has dedicated itself to spreading a broader knowledge and deeper appreciation of Canada, i ...

and the

Explorers Club The Explorers Club is an American-based international multidisciplinary professional society with the goal of promoting scientific exploration and field study. The club was founded in New York City in 1904 and has served as a meeting point for ex ...

. , Allen lives on

Mercer Island, Washington Mercer Island is a city in King County, Washington, United States, located on an island of the same name in the southern portion of Lake Washington. Mercer Island is in the Seattle metropolitan area, with Seattle to its west and Bellevue to ...

.Mike Rogoway
Trail Blazers, Vulcan look ahead as Paul Allen faces cancer
, ''

The Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the West Coast of the United States, U.S. West Coast, founded as a weekly by Tho ...

'', November 21, 2009

Filmography

Executive producer

* ''

Men with Guns ''Men with Guns'' () is a 1997 American political drama film edited, written and directed by John Sayles, inspired by the 1992 novel ''The Long Night of White Chickens'' by Francisco Goldman. It stars Federico Luppi, Damián Delgado, Damián Alc ...

'' (1997) * '' The Luzhin Defence'' (2000) * ''

The Safety of Objects ''The Safety of Objects'' is a 2001 American drama film based upon a collection of short stories of the same name written by A. M. Homes and published in 1990. It features four suburban families who find that their lives become intertwined. The ...

'' (2001) * '' The Soul of a Man'' (2003) * ''

The Blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narra ...

'' (2003) * '' Lightning in a Bottle'' (2004) * ''

Hard Candy A hard candy (American English), or boiled sweet (British English), is a sugar candy prepared from one or more sugar-based syrups that is heated to a temperature of 160 °C (320 °F) to make candy. Among the many hard candy varieti ...

'' (2005) * ''

American Masters ''American Masters'' is a PBS television series which produces biographies on enduring writers, musicians, visual and performing artists, dramatists, filmmakers, and those who have left an indelible impression on the cultural landscape of the U ...

'': ''No Direction Home: Bob Dylan'' (2005) * ''

Bickford Shmeckler's Cool Ideas ''Bickford Shmeckler's Cool Ideas'' is a 2006 American comedy film written and directed by Scott Lew, starring Patrick Fugit and Olivia Wilde. Plot The film starts out with the quote "Nothing can ever be truly, fully understood. Not even the m ...

'' (2006) * '' Where God Left His Shoes'' (2007) * ''Girl Rising'' (2013) * '' Pandora's Promise'' (2013) * ''

We The Economy In Modern English, ''we'' is a Grammatical number, plural, Grammatical person, first-person personal pronoun, pronoun. Morphology In Standard English, Standard Modern English, ''we'' has six distinct shapes for five word Morphology (lingui ...

'' (2014)

Producer

* '' Inspirations'' (1997) * ''

Me & Isaac Newton ''Me & Isaac Newton'' is a 1999 documentary directed by Michael Apted and produced by Clear Blue Sky Productions. Synopsis With a lightly humorous approach, the film explores human advances in the field of sciences. Both Apted and Paul G. Allen, ...

'' (1999) * ''

Titus Titus Caesar Vespasianus ( ; 30 December 39 – 13 September AD 81) was Roman emperor from 79 to 81. A member of the Flavian dynasty, Titus succeeded his father Vespasian upon his death, becoming the first Roman emperor ever to succeed h ...

'' (1999) * '' Coastlines'' (2002) * ''

Far from Heaven ''Far from Heaven'' is a 2002 historical romantic drama film written and directed by Todd Haynes and starring Julianne Moore, Dennis Quaid, Dennis Haysbert and Patricia Clarkson. It premiered at the Venice Film Festival, where Moore won the ...

'' (2002)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Jody 1955 births 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American businesswomen 20th-century American philanthropists 20th-century American women philanthropists 21st-century American businesspeople 21st-century American businesswomen 21st-century American philanthropists 21st-century American women philanthropists American chief executives of financial services companies American nonprofit executives American women chief executives American women nonprofit executives Businesspeople from Seattle Film producers from Washington (state) Filmmakers from Seattle Lakeside School (Seattle) alumni Living people NBA owners Philanthropists from Washington (state) Seattle Seahawks owners Whitman College alumni Women American football executives Women sports owners