PAUL ALLEN co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates in 1976 and remained the company's chief technologist until he left Microsoft in 1983. He is the founder and chairman of Vulcan Inc., the company which oversees his business and philanthropic activities. In addition, Allen's multibillion dollar investment portfolio includes large stakes in real estate, as well as a diversity of technology, media and content companies. He also owns the Seattle Seahawks NFL, Portland Trail Blazers NBA franchises, and is part-owner of Major League Soccer's Seattle Sounders FC.
Allen has been named one of the top philanthropists in America. He gives back to the community through the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, whose goal is to transform individual lives and strengthen communities by supporting arts and culture, youth engagement, community development and social change, and scientific and technological innovation throughout the Pacific Northwest.
In 2003, Allen contributed to the founding of the Allen Institute for Brain Science. The Seattle-based Institute is an independent, nonprofit medical research organization dedicated to accelerating the understanding of how the brain works. The Institute takes on projects at the leading edge of science—far-reaching projects at the intersection of biology and technology. The resulting data create publicly available resources that fuel discovery for countless other researchers worldwide.
Allen is also founder of the EMP Museum, Seattle's critically-acclaimed museum of music, science fiction and popular culture; the Flying Heritage Collection, an assemblage of rare World War II aircraft restored to flying condition and shared with the public; and Vulcan Productions, the independent film production company behind the award-winning feature Hard Candy; the Evolution series on PBS; The Blues, executive-produced by Martin Scorsese in conjunction with Allen and his sister, Jo Lynn Allen; the Emmy-award winning Rx for Survival A Global Health Challenge; and the Peabody award-winning Judgment Day: Intelligent Design.
