Alexander Blass (Semblanza)

Alexander Blass is an internationally acclaimed American innovator. He invented the world’s first personal crowdfunding website and business method, which grew to a $10 billion a year industry in less than a decade after spreading rapidly on the Internet and helping millions of people around the globe. For this incredible achievement, he received the Daily Record’s Top Innovator of the Year Award, which credited him with “revolutionizing charitable giving.” He presently serves as CEO and Chief Innovator of the Innovation Institute of America, and has traveled to over 65 countries and appeared in hundreds of media outlets.

Alexander was honored as Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Wharton School of Business. He also received the Baltimore Business Journal’s Top 40 Under 40 Executives Award and the Daily Record’s Influential Marylanders Award.

Previously, Alexander was a venture capitalist, strategy consultant, and software developer, beginning his career at KPMG Consulting. He has worked with leading organizations on opportunities totaling over $1 billion, and made investment recommendations on over $100 million of emerging technologies for the U.S. government as an invited expert on many investment panels at the National Science Foundation.

He has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, MSNBC, Associated Press, BusinessWeek, Times of India, FOX, The Independent, Economic Times, Voice of Africa, Khaleej Times, Dubai Eye, HRM Asia, Portafolio, Private Sector Qatar, and many more.

Alexander received an MBA from Oxford University in England. He also holds a Master of Science degree in electrical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, where he concurrently studied at the Wharton School of Business.