James H. Clark

This article is about the entrepreneur and computer scientist born 1944. For the United States Navy ship, seeUSS James H. Clark (SP-759).For the programmer and computer scientist born in 1964, seeJames Clark (programmer).

James Henry Clark(born March 23, 1944) is an Americanentrepreneurandcomputer scientist.He founded several notableSilicon Valleytechnology companies, includingSilicon Graphics,Netscape,myCFO,andHealtheon.His research work incomputer graphicsled to the development of systems for the fastrenderingofthree-dimensional computer images.

James H. Clark
Clark in 2013
Born	James Henry Clark (1944-03-23)March 23, 1944 Plainview,Texas,United States
Alma mater	University of Utah University of New Orleans
Spouse(s)	Nancy Rutter Kristy Hinze(m. 2009)
Children	4
Scientific career
Fields	Computer science Computer graphics
Institutions	Silicon Graphics Netscape New York Institute of Technology Stanford University
Thesis	3-D design of free-form B-spline surfaces(1974)
Doctoral advisor	Ivan Sutherland

In 1998, Clark was elected a member of theNational Academy of Engineeringfor the development of computer graphics and for technical leadership in the computer industry.

Early life and education

Clark was born inPlainview, Texas,on March 23, 1944. He dropped out of high school at 16 and spent four years in theUS Navy,where he was introduced to electronics. Clark began taking night courses atTulane University's University College where, despite his lack of a high school diploma, he was able to earn enough credits to be admitted to theUniversity of New Orleans.There, Clark earned his bachelor's and a master's degrees inphysics,followed by aPh.D.incomputer sciencefrom theUniversity of Utahin 1974.

Career

Academia

After completing his doctorate, Clark worked at theNew York Institute of Technology'sComputer Graphics Lab.He served as anassistant professorat theUniversity of California, Santa Cruz(1974-1978) before moving toStanford Universityas anassociate professorofelectrical engineering(1979-1982). Clark's research work concernedgeometry pipelines,specialized software or hardware that accelerates the display of three dimensional images. The peak of his group's advancements was theGeometry Engine,an early hardware accelerator for rendering computer images based on geometric models which he developed in 1979 with his students at Stanford.

Silicon Graphics

In 1982, Clark along with several Stanford graduate students foundedSilicon Graphics(SGI).The earliest Silicon Graphics graphicalworkstationswere mainly terminals, but they were soon followed by stand-alone graphicalUnixworkstations with very fast graphics rendering hardware. In the mid-1980s, Silicon Graphics began to use theMIPSCPUas the foundation of their newest workstations, replacing theMotorola 68000.

By 1991, Silicon Graphics had become the world leader in the production of Hollywood movie visual effects and 3-D imaging. Silicon Graphics focused on the high-end market where they could charge a premium for their special hardware and graphics software.

Clark had differences of opinion with Silicon Graphics management regarding the future direction of the company,and departed in late January 1994.

Netscape

In February 1994, Clark sought outMarc Andreessenwho had led the development ofMosaic,the first widely distributed and easy-to-use software for browsing theWorld Wide Web,while employed at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA).Clark and Andreessen foundedNetscape,and developed the Netscape Navigator web browser. The founding of Netscape and itsIPOin August 1995 launched the Internet boom onWall Streetduring the mid-to-late 1990s. Clark's initial investment in Netscape was $4 million in 1994; he exited with $1.2 billion when Netscape was acquired by AOL in 1999.

Healtheon/WebMD

In 1995, Clark became interested in streamlining the paperwork associated with the health-care industry. The resulting start-up,Healtheon,was founded in early 1996 with backing fromKleiner PerkinsandNew Enterprise Associates.Although Clark's original idea of eliminating the paperwork and bureaucracy associated with medical care was ambitious, it did lead to successes in administrative streamlining of medical records technology. However, anAtlanta,Georgia startup company,WebMDoriginally focused on medical content was also making similar in-roads. Knowing WebMD had financial backing fromMicrosoft,Clark decided to merge Healtheon with the original WebMD to form the WebMD Corporation (NASDAQ: WBMD). WebMD is a leader in health information on the Internet.

Other affiliations

In 1999, Clark launchedmyCFO,a company formed to help wealthy Silicon Valley individuals manage their fortunes. In late 2002, while Clark served on the board of directors, most of myCFO's operations were sold toHarris Bankand now operate asHarris myCFO.

Clark was chairman and financial backer of network-security startup Neoteris, founded in 2000, which was acquired byNetScreenin 2003 and subsequently byJuniper Networks.

Clark was a founding director and investor in the biotechnology company DNA Sciences, founded in 1998 to unravel the genetics of common disease using volunteers recruited from the Internet launched August 1, 2000 (see The New York Times). In 2003, the company was acquired by Genaissance Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Clark was the subject of the 1999 bestsellerThe New New Thing:A Silicon Valley Storyby U.S. authorMichael Lewis.

Clark was a notable investor inKibu,an Internet website for teens, which received approximately $22 million in funding.The website shut down in 2000, returning its remaining capital to investors.

Clark coproduced the 2009 movieThe Cove.His funding made possible the purchase and covert installation of some high-tech camera and sound-recording equipment required to capture the film's climactic dolphin slaughter.The film addresses the problem of whale and dolphin killing inTaiji, Wakayama,Japan.

Clark sits on the board and is one of the primary investors in the mobile technology companyIbotta.Ibotta became a publicly traded company in April 2024.

In 2017, Clark announced the launch of CommandScape, a cyber secure building management and automation platform.

In 2020, Clark announced the $30M A round of funding for Beyond Identity, with a product that is a phone-resident personal certificate-based authentication and authorization solution that eliminates all passwords.

Awards

Clark received theACM SIGGRAPHComputer Graphics Achievement Award in 1984. In 1996, he received the Golden Plate Award of theAmerican Academy of Achievement.He was a recipient of the 1997Kilby International Awards,which honored him for his computer graphics vision and for enabling networked information exchange.

In 1988, Clark was an Award Recipient of theEY Entrepreneur of the Year Awardin the Northern California Region.

Clark was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science (ScD) from the University of East Anglia in 1998.

Personal life

Clark has been married four times and has four children. The divorce from his third wife of 15 years, Nancy Rutter, aForbesjournalist, is reported to have cost him $125 million in cash and assets in the settlement. Soon afterwards he began dating Australian modelKristy Hinze,35 years his junior. Hinze became his fourth wife when they married in theBritish Virgin Islandson March 22, 2009.She gave birth to a daughter, Dylan Vivienne in September 2011, and later, Harper Hazelle, in August 2013. In 2000, his daughter by a previous marriage, Kathy, marriedChad Hurley,a co-founder of YouTube,they were divorced in 2012.

In 2022 he made the largest residential real estate sale in Florida history, selling a 22-acre property inManalapan, FloridatoLarry Ellisonfor approximately $175 million. Clark had previously acquired the property in 2021 from the Ziff publishing family for $94 million.

Yachting

Clark is an enthusiasticyachtsmanbut cannot sail in rough ocean races such as theSydney-Hobartdue to an arthritic condition in his anklesand prefers one-day regattas on the smoother waters of the Mediterranean, the Caribbean and off Newport, Rhode Island. In 2012, however, he commented that "after 28 years of owning boats, I'm over it."

He is the past owner of two important sailing yachts:

• Hyperion,the world's largestsloopwhen she was launched in 1998 at 47.5 m (156 ft) in length. She was designed byGermán Frersand built byRoyal Huisman.With an air draught of 59 m (194 ft), she briefly featured the world's longestcarbon fiberspar. Clark developed her own chartplotter andSCADAsystem to control vessel operation remotely, as well as automate sailing operation and optimize sailing performance using a large bank of sensors and SGI processors. Clark soldHyperionin 2004.
• Comanche,a 30.48 m (100 ft) carbonfibermaxi yachtdesigned byVPLPand built byHodgdon Shipbuildingforline honoursvictories in offshore races. She lost line honours toWild Oats XIin the 2014Sydney-Hobartrace but returned and won in 2015. She also won line honours in the 2015 Transatlantic race in which she set a new24-hour speed recordfor monohulls. In 2016 with SkipperKen ReadandStan Honeynavigating, she set theNewport to Bermuda Racerecord, shaving five hours off the previous fastest time recorded in the 635 mile race.In December 2017,Comanchewas sold to AustralianJim Cooney.

He remains the current owner of two other large sailing yachts:

• Athena,a 90 m (295 ft) three-mastgaff-rigged aluminumschoonerbuilt byRoyal Huisman.Athenahas been listed for sale since July 2012, originally with an asking price of US$95 million, reduced to $59 million as of February 2017.
• Hanuman,a replica of the 42.1 m (138 ft)J-ClassEndeavour II,built byRoyal Huisman.Hanumanhas been listed for sale since May 2012 with an asking price of US$14.9 million as of 2021.

Flying

Clark is a pilot who enjoys flying helicopters, gliders (built in Germany) and acrobatic aircraft (such as the Extra EA-300).

Philanthropy

Clark has contributed toStanford University,where he was an associate electrical engineering professor.In 1999, he pledged $150 million toward construction of theJames H. Clark Center for Biomedical Engineeringand related programs for interdisciplinary biomedical research.At the time, it was the largest-ever contribution to Stanford, other than the university's founding grant.Construction started in 2001 and was completed in the summer of 2003, as part of Stanford's Bio-X program.In September 2001, Clark rescinded $60 million of his initial pledge, citing anger over President Bush's restrictions on stem cell research.In aNew York Timesopinion piece, Clark said federal funding is essential for research in the United States, and he was not interested in funding research that could be suppressed for political reasons.President Barack Obama lifted the restrictions in question in 2009.In 2013, Clark pledged an additional $60 million to Stanford for interdisciplinary research in the life sciences, technology, and engineering.His commitment was finally completely fulfilled in 2020.Clark has donated an additional $10 million to fund fellowships at the Stanford Institute for Theoretical Physics.

In 2004, Clark andDavid FiloofYahoo!each donated $30 million to Tulane University's School of Engineering for merit-based scholarships to provide education to deserving students regardless of financial situation in the discipline of engineering.

Clark is a board member for the national council of theWorld Wide Fund for Nature(WWF) and contributes towards the organization.ThePerlman Music Programhas recognized Clark for his continued philanthropic efforts towards their organization and their endowment fund.

See also

• Catmull–Clark subdivision surface,a 3D modelling technique Clark invented in collaboration withEdwin Catmull

External links

• "Jim Clark",Salon, November 24, 1999.
• "James H. Clark",Business Week,1999.