Jeff Vander Clute

Jeff is a serial entrepreneur, a business development executive, and a social media and database engineer. He has written software for Web 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0, and has extensive experience with search engines, large-scale databases, and other technologies fundamental to media. Jeff is a consultant to the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute at the Missouri School of Journalism and technology lead on its Information Valet Project. He co-founded Avanoo, Inc., where he developed a social polling system called "The Wisdom of Communities" and a social network to facilitate deep connectedness and meaningful sharing. His background also includes work as principal developer of one of the Internet's first mass-market social media sites, Tripod; global operations manager of international business development for Lycos products; and VP of information systems of Eziba, an e-commerce site that sold fair-trade craft objects in partnership with Amazon.com. Jeff graduated summa cum laude from Williams College with a B.A. degree in mathematics.