Areas of Interest (Robotics, Software Architecture, Green Energy, Web 2.0, etc.):
Venture, angels, startups, incubators, prizes, HI tech, algae, biofuels, real estate, etc.
About Me:
Keith Powers | Bio
Keith is currently an Entrepreneur in Residence and Investment Director at REI Capital, a private investment and venture capital firm where he identifies and evaluates investment opportunities while working with a number of REI's portfolio companies. He most recently served as the Co-Creator and Chief Operating Officer at Prize Capital, LLC an innovative financial model at the intersection of invention, investment and philanthropy - where he remains a Senior Advisor.
Prior to Prize Capital Keith was the EVP of Strategic Development at the X PRIZE Foundation where he spearheaded an effort to create a modern-day version of the Nobel Prize by expanding the mission of the foundation to include prizes in other areas including energy, the environment/carbon, genomics, medicine, nanotechnology, transportation, education and social entrepreneurship. To support this vision, Keith raised in excess of $20M in less than 18 months and he helped expand the Board of Trustees to include such visionary and luminary leaders as Larry Page, Dean Kamen, Dr. J. Craig Venter, Gil Elbaz, Elon Musk, Takafumi Horie, Jeffrey Shames and Ray Kurzweil.
Keith previously started and sold several companies, including a non-traditional media company in 2000, and a Hispanic DRTV- advertising agency in 2003. From 1996-1999, Keith was the Director of Operations at Sun Apparel-The Polo Jeans Company, a $800M global manufacturer, distributor and retailer of casual apparel.
Civic leadership, youth development and national service has long been a focus for Keith, including a stint at the US Embassy in Mexico City in 1994 and as a volunteer corps member and then later as a national staff member with City Year, an “action tank” for national service. He is currently on the Board of Directors of Kids Korps USA, Prize4life.org, an advisor to several start-ups, and a member of the NRDC's Environmental Entreprenuers (E2).
Keith holds a B.A.from Northeastern University, an MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management and has attended several executive seminars including Governing for Nonprofit Excellence: Critical Issues for Board Leadership at Harvard Business School. He has lived, worked, studied or traveled to over 30 countries and is fluent in Spanish and proficient in Japanese. He and his wife Michiko have just moved to Maui with their three year old daughter Harmony
Yes, I've had some exchanges with Gina and Kyle (Director of Partner Design & Development) when we did the first 100% complete Japanese localized Ning network and about another unrelated matter.
For something like the email notifications issue I typically just create a ticket in the help center. They are pretty good about responding.
Aloha Keith. Welcome to TechHui and to Hawaii! We are happy to have you in the community.
re: The lack of message content in notification emails
That is my #1 complaint as well. We are more concerned with convenience for our members than clicks. This decision should certainly be left to the network creator.
That being said, we are generally happy with the platform for communities like TechHui. We are also augmenting Ning with widgets from our platform, Ooi (polls, surveys, quote of the day w/ voting, etc.) There are some other, more cutting edge things come soon, including a possible work around for the empty email notifications. We will make sure to keep everyone posted.
Feel free to swing by our office the next time you are on Oahu.
Hi Keith, I'm bummed we're going to miss. My wife is going to be at the MCC Nursing booth and I need to fly support with our 7 month old. Next time I will read your post more carefully in advance, I was thinking this was a lunch date. Hope to catch you on the next pass. --Doug
Welcome to Maui!
Clearly a great place to live if you have the opportunity. We moved here 2 years ago and love our rainy life on the north shore. Hope to meet up some day. Maybe a Tech Hui Maui group that meets a few times a year?
Aloha,
Anders
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For something like the email notifications issue I typically just create a ticket in the help center. They are pretty good about responding.
re: The lack of message content in notification emails
That is my #1 complaint as well. We are more concerned with convenience for our members than clicks. This decision should certainly be left to the network creator.
That being said, we are generally happy with the platform for communities like TechHui. We are also augmenting Ning with widgets from our platform, Ooi (polls, surveys, quote of the day w/ voting, etc.) There are some other, more cutting edge things come soon, including a possible work around for the empty email notifications. We will make sure to keep everyone posted.
Feel free to swing by our office the next time you are on Oahu.
Clearly a great place to live if you have the opportunity. We moved here 2 years ago and love our rainy life on the north shore. Hope to meet up some day. Maybe a Tech Hui Maui group that meets a few times a year?
Aloha,
Anders