Dr. Douglas Gene Carlston

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, he is the founder and current CEO of Tawala Systems based in San Rafael, California. The company was founded Sept., 2005 and was conceived to enable ordinary people to use the web more easily and effectively in their daily lives, and particularly with regard to organizing and communicating with groups of people. He was previously CEO, chairman, and co-founder (with his brother Gary) of Br?derbund Software, a major software publishing firm that produced such hit titles as ?Myst?, ?Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?? and ?Prince of Persia?. Their sister, Cathy, joined the company a year later. Br?derbund was acquired by The Learning Company for $420 million in 1998, and the combined company was sold to Mattel in 1999 for $3.6 billion. He received his Bachelor's degree from Harvard University in 1970 and also studied Economics at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He earned a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1975. Prior to founding Br?derbund in 1980, he was an attorney. As of April 2008, he serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Public Radio International (PRI) and of the Carlston Family Foundation (formerly the Br?derbund Foundation), and serves on the Boards of the MoveOn Political Action Committee, the Ploughshares Fund, the Albanian American Enterprise Fund, A.H. Belo Corporation and the Long Now Foundation. He also serves on the Committee on University Resources of Harvard University, and the Board of Advisors of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.