 william henry draper iii (born january 15, 1928) is an american venture capitalist. ==early life and career== draper was born on january 15, 1928 in white plains, new york, the son of katherine louise (nÃ©e baum) and banker and diplomat william henry draper, jr. he attended yale university with george h. w. bush, graduated in 1950, the year after george h. w. bush and is a member of the secret society skull and bones. after graduating from college, draper served as a second lieutenant in the korean war. upon returning to the united states, he attended harvard business school and studied under professor georges doriot, who is often credited with starting the venture capital industry. draper graduated with a masters of business degree, with distinction, in 1954. he then worked from 1954-1959 as a steel salesman at chicago's inland steel company. ==early venture capital== in 1959, draper left chicago to work as an associate at his father's newly formed firm, draper, gaither & anderson, the first venture capital company on the west coast. in 1962, draper left draper, gaither & anderson to co-found the venture capital firm draper & johnson investment company with his good friend pitch johnson, whom he had met while working at inland steel. in 1965, draper founded sutter hill ventures, which to this day remains one of the top venture capital firms in the country. during his twenty years as the senior partner of sutter hill, draper helped to organize and finance several hundred high technology manufacturing companies.in 1986, he became the head of the world's largest source of multilateral development grant assistance, the united nations development programme, and was instrumental in leadership of several global initiatives, such as the international education for all movement (beginning formally with the 1990 conference in jomtien, thailand), the 1995 beijing women's' conference, and the 1995 social summit in copenhagen, denmark. ==sabbatical from silicon valley â public service== draper has played an international leadership role in expanding the world economy. he served from 1981 to 1986 as president and chairman of the export-import bank of the united states and was appointed to this position by president ronald reagan. in this post, draper assumed a leadership role in u.s. efforts to sustain world trade
1928_births Administrators_of_the_United_Nations_Development_Programme American_businesspeople Harvard_Business_School_alumni Living_people Venture_capitalists Yale_University_alumni