Former Media Executive. Investor and Philanthropist
Los Angeles, CA
Jean-Louis Velaise grew up in London and Paris. After studying at Cambridge University (BA ’84, MA ’03), Jean-Louis worked in management consulting in London and then embarked on an MBA at Stanford (GSB ’88). Leaving Stanford with both an MBA and a fiancée, Jean-Louis returned to Europe to live in Belgium and work on the early development of direct-to-home satellite television across Northern Europe. A couple of years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Jean-Louis worked in Eastern Europe managing television start-up operations and joining boards of various companies, one of which was awarded the privatization tender for the first Hungarian commercial TV station.
Upon returning to California in 2003, Jean-Louis has focused on investments in private market startups and structured products in public markets. Jean-Louis primarily dedicates his philanthropic eVorts in Israel, backing NGOs that promote Shared Society, programs that build bridges between Jewish, Arab, and other communities. This includes sponsoring an annual Shared Society film award.
Jean-Louis has always enjoyed mentoring and for the past 14 years has been mentor to a young man from the time he aged out of the State Foster Care System.
Jean-Louis is also a keen sportsman – currently working on progressing his golf game. Married to Jennifer (GSB ’88), we are proud parents of 3 sons. If Jean-Louis arrives tired to class, it might be because he has been known to set his alarm for 3 am to watch Chelsea’s live games.
With Jennifer Velaise
