Phyllis and William Draper III

Having begun his venture capital career in 1959, William H. Draper III is one of America’s first venture capitalists. Today, he is Managing Director of Draper Richards L.P and Draper International, and he is Chairman of The Draper Richards Foundation. Draper served as the head of the United Nations Development Program from 1986 to 1993 and oversaw nearly 10,000 international aid projects.  He was also President and Chairman of the Export-Import Bank of the United States from 1981 to 1986 and was appointed to this position by President Reagan. He also founded Sutter Hill Ventures, one of the leading venture capital firms in the U.S., in 1965.

He is on the boards of the Atlantic Council, The Draper Richards Foundation, Hoover Institution, Freeman Spogli Institute of International Studies at Stanford University, World Affairs Council of Northern California, the United Nations Association-USA and the Harvard Business School California Research Center Advisory Board.  He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the President’s Council on International Activities at Yale University. Draper formerly served as the Chairman of the World Affairs Council of Northern California, Chairman of the Institute of International Education, as a Trustee of Yale University and as Chairman of the Board of the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco; he was a former Board member of Population Action International, George Bush Library Foundation, the Advisory Council of the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and the World Rehabilitation Fund in New York.

Draper received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University in 1950 and a Master of Business degree, with distinction, from the Harvard Business School in 1954.