Zachary Bookman
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Zachary Bookman (born 1980) is an American government technology entrepreneur. He is co-founder and CEO of OpenGov, a company that sells cloud software to local governments and state agencies. Prior to founding OpenGov, Bookman served as Advisor to the Anti‑Corruption Task Force in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Education
[edit]Bookman holds a JD from the Yale Law School and an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School.[1] He graduated as valedictorian of his class from the University of Maryland[1] and is an alumnus of the Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C. In 2007-2008, Bookman received a Fulbright Fellowship to study transparency and corruption in Mexico.[2]
Career
[edit]Bookman served as a law clerk to the Honorable Sandra S. Ikuta on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, later working as a trial litigator at Keker, Van Nest & Peters in San Francisco.[1]
Bookman served as Advisor to U.S. Army General H.R. McMaster (2011-2012), on the Combined Joint Interagency Task Force (Shafafiyat) at the International Security Assistance Force headquarters in Kabul, Afghanistan. Bookman helped lead a Rule of Law team on the task force that worked with the Afghan Department of Justice on corruption cases, such as the bribery scandal at the Dawood National Military Hospital.[3]
Bookman co-founded OpenGov in 2012 with Joe Lonsdale and Stanford University technologists.[4] OpenGov received investments from Thrive Capital starting in 2013, and in 2017 Bookman participated in a White House summit organized by Jared Kushner, the brother of Thrive Capital's founder.[5]
Personal life
[edit]Bookman grew up in Cabin John, Maryland outside of Washington, D.C.[6]
In 2021 Bookman took a cross-country bike ride from the San Francisco Bay to the Chesapeake Bay to visit with local government leaders.[7]
In September 2019, Bookman joined an expedition with mountain guide Garrett Madison to attempt a late season ascent of Mount Everest.[8] The guide called off the attempt while the group was in base camp, which Madison described as a decision based on dangerous conditions.[9] In March 2020, Bookman filed a lawsuit seeking damages over the non-refundable expedition fee,[8] alleging the guide had canceled the trip for reasons unrelated to safety.[10] In December 2021, the case was settled with Bookman agreeing through a stipulated judgement that he is not entitled to a refund for the trip.[9]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c "Zac Bookman, GVPT '02". University of Maryland College of Behavioral and Social Sciences. University of Maryland. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
- ^ Bookman, Zachary (22 April 2008). "Shine a light in Mexico". LA Times. LA Times. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
- ^ Abi-Habib, Maria. "At Afghan Military Hospital, Graft and Deadly Neglect". No. 3 September 2011. The Wall Street Journal. The Wall Street Journal.
- ^ Wilkinson, Amy. "OpenGov: Bringing the Cloud to Government". Stanford University Graduate School of Business. Stanford University Graduate School of Business. Retrieved 2 March 2022.
- ^ Eaglesham, Jean; Schwartz, Lisa (July 14, 2017). "Startup That Got a Seat at White House Roundtable Is Part-Owned by Kushner Family". WSJ. Retrieved 2023-02-18.
- ^ Ravindranath, Mohana (2015-02-01). "Can government transparency be big business?". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2023-03-15.
- ^ Quigley, Dryden (November 2, 2021). "CEO biking across America stops in Charlottesville". NBC 29. Retrieved November 2, 2021.
- ^ a b Schlosser, Curt (5 October 2020). "Seattle mountaineering guide in legal battle with tech CEO seeking refund for failed Everest climb". GeekWire. Retrieved 15 March 2023.
- ^ a b Reimers, Frederick (2021-12-30). "An Everest Guide Just Won a Legal Battle over a Canceled Summit Attempt". Outside Online. Retrieved 2023-03-15.
- ^ Reimers, Frederick (2020-10-11). "The Tech CEO, the Guide, and a Case That Could Upend Everest Travel". Outside Online. Retrieved 2023-03-15.