Philip Berber is an Irish-born American technology entrepreneur, now engaged in

philanthropy Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

, international aid,

social entrepreneurship Social entrepreneurship is an approach by individuals, groups, Startup company, start-up companies or entrepreneurs, in which they develop, fund and implement solutions to social, cultural, or environmental issues. This concept may be applied to ...

and impact investing. He sold CyBerCorp, his online brokerage for day traders, to Charles Schwab for $488m in 2000. He and his wife Donna then formed and funded A Glimmer of Hope, pledging $100 million of Schwab stock to endow the foundation. He is currently engaged with philanthropy in Austin - by way of Glimmer, Austin- supporting local innovate early-stage non profits and social ventures. Philip is also engaged with Berber Family Investments and BerberFam, their Family Office, and serves on the Glimmer Board.

Early life

Berber was born in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, Ireland in 1958. He attended Wesley College, Dublin and went to

University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...

and studied Commerce (B Comm). He moved to

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 ...

in 1979 and met his wife Donna a few years later. They moved to

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, Texas in 1991, and to Austin in 1995 where they live with their three sons.

Business recognition

Berber won the Entrepreneur of the Year award for Central Texas in 2000 and was a national finalist the same year. University College Dublin awarded him with the Outstanding Alumnus Award in 2009, and that year Wall Street Journal described Berber as the "real star at the Clinton Global Initiative".

Giving

Berber is Chairman and co founder of A Glimmer of Hope, a family foundation and international NGO, formed and funded by Berber and his wife Donna in 2000. BusinessWeek listed the Berbers at #40 amongst "the 50 most generous philanthropists" in 2002. Barron's ranked the Berbers as sixth in the world on the list of "The 25 Best Givers" in 2009 and 7th in 2010. The Berbers and Glimmer were featured in the book Richistan.

Ventures

In 2011, Berber was involved at the early stages of Circuit of the Americas (COTA), which brought Formula One back to the US.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berber, Philip 1958 births Living people Alumni of University College Dublin Businesspeople from County Dublin People educated at Wesley College, Dublin