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Please provide a detailed briefing on Jake Silverstein from Stormlight Expeditions, including a summary of his/her professional background, achievements in his/her current position, any insights on his company objectives, and any major media coverage.
Hello! Thanks for your question looking for information about Jake Silverstein from Stormlight Expeditions.
The short version is that both Jake and his family's company, Stormlight Expeditions, keep a very low profile. Neither have their own website or LinkedIn Profile, and they are very quiet about their investments, acquisitions, and foundations. As a result, there is not a lot of buzz or news about either Jake or the company, but I was able to compile information about his family, education, personal interests, professional background, and non-profit involvement, as well as Stormlight Expeditions' investments and news. You will find a deep dive of my findings below.
FAMILY BACKGROUND
Jake was born in Miami, Florida to Barry and Trudy Silverstein who are committed investors, philanthropists, and entrepreneurs.
Barry, his father, is considered to be a pioneer in the cable industry who, "envisioned, built, and sold cable systems throughout the United States" from the 1960s-90s. He graduated from Yale Law School in 1957, and worked as a Law Professor at the University of Florida until the mid-60s. He has served on the boards of several publicly traded companies and currently serves as a trustee for the XPrize Vision Circle.
Trudy, his mother, is the President of the William James Foundation, "which supports conflict resolution, social entrepreneurship, children’s education, mindfulness meditation, and international development," and "heads the family's philanthropic undertakings."
Jake has only one sibling, Molly, who works with their mother to head up the family's philanthropic interests.
According to a biography on the family, "privately, the family is focused on wilderness conservation and have quietly assembled substantial tracts of forest land in the Adirondack and Rocky Mountain regions."
Jake currently lives and works in Portland.
EDUCATION
A bit of a math prodigy, Jake graduated from the New College of Florida with a BA in Mathematics at the age of 19. He also has an MBA from the University of Michigan.
HOBBIES & INTERESTS
According to his Angel.co profile, Jake is a "dog rescue advocate", and his love for animals is evident in his choice of profile photos for both Angel.co and Facebook (both contain dogs).
An avid reader, he enjoys books in the fantasy genre including (according to his Facebook page), "Game of Thrones", "Harry Potter", "Lord of The Rings", and "The Name of The Wind."
Described as a "lifelong athlete" in his bio on Fitwall, Jake is also a huge basketball fan, and, according to his Facebook page, cheers for the Miami Heat and the Portland Trailblazers.
According to Facebook, favourite movies and TV shows include "The Lord of The Rings", "LA Confidential", "Muppet Treasure Island", "22 Jump Street", "Forgetting Sara Marshall", "The Dark Knight", "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia", and "Arrested Development". He also enjoys music by the Gin Blossoms, Drake, and Iron & Wine.
PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND
Jake leads the investment side of his family's interests — "Stormlight Expeditions, [which is] the Silverstein family’s private investment platform, and E'lir Capital, the family's early-stage investment vehicle focused on technology and consumer products."
He also is a board member at Fitwall, one of the companies that Stormlight Expeditions invested in that is using technology to create global fitness classes.
NON-PROFIT INVOLVEMENT
Jake is a board member of the William James Foundation, which is headed by his mother and run by his family. The foundation "supports conflict resolution, social entrepreneurship, children’s education, mindfulness meditation, and international development."
The foundation is a member of the X-Prize Foundation Vision Circle, and Jake is actively involved in this foundation as well. X-Prize creates competitions to try "to solve the world’s grandest challenges." This includes trying to come up with solutions to solve problems with "basic human necessities like clean water, access to quality healthcare, education and learning, safe and affordable housing, space exploration, food and nutrition, a sustainable planet and environment, personal safety and security."
Jake is also a board member at Mama Hope, an organization that empowers people from all walks of life, all over the world, to become leaders in their communities. The organization is "on a mission to support global entrepreneurship as a path to ending extreme poverty."
STORMLIGHT EXPEDITIONS INVESTMENTS & NEWS
The investment platform, Stormlight Expeditions, and the investment vehicle, E'lir Capital, arose from the fact that "Barry and Trudy were early supporters of the rapidly maturing science of nanotechnology, Roger Fisher's Harvard Negotiation Project, and the Mind and Life Institute."
The company focuses on investing in new technology, innovative solutions, and companies that are looking to create change or disrupt current trends.
Investments include:
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When it comes to recent news stories, the only thing I found related to either Jake Silverstein or Stormlight Expeditions had to do with his co-purchase of the Major League Soccer (MLS) club Houston Dynamo, and the Houston Dash National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL). The article basically talks about the people who have purchased the teams: "As well as Brener and De La Hoya, who remains a minority partner in the club, the new ownership group also includes Jake Silverstein and Ben Guill. Silverstein, who heads up an investment platform called Stormlight Expeditions, will sit on the MLS board of governors alongside Brener following the deal."
CONCLUSION
To wrap it up, while Jake Silverstein and his family's company Stormlight Expeditions are very private, it is obvious that they are committed to investing in new technology, innovative solutions, and companies that are looking to create change or disrupt current trends.
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