Franklin Johnson

Franklin Johnson is a Lecturer of Management at Stanford Graduate School of Business. Franklin taught a class in entrepreneurship and venture capital at Stanford Business School for 12 years and is still active on the faculty there. In other Stanford activities, Franklin is a Member of the Advisory Board of the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research and serves to the board of overseers of the Hoover Institution. Franklin is a native of Quincy, Illinois, graduated from Palo Alto High School in 1946, received a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford in 1950 and an MBA from Harvard in 1952. Franklin served as a Maintenance Officer in the U.S. Air Force from 1952 to 1954, and was an Open-Hearth Production Executive for Inland Steel Company from 1954 to 1962. Franklin was a Co-Founder in 1962 of Draper and Johnson Investment Company, a venture capital company and became an independent venture capitalist in 1965 as the founder of Asset Management Company, with which he is still associated. Asset Management Company manages two venture capital funds based in Palo Alto, CA. Franklin is a past Member of the Board of Directors of the National Venture Capital Association, a past President of the Western Association of Venture Capitalists and was a Member of the Board of Trustees at Foothill-De Anza Community College District for 12 years. In the area of entrepreneurship and privatization, Franklin has served as an Advisor to several eastern European countries since 1990. In conjunction with ABN Amro Bank of the Netherlands, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and a group of entrepreneurs and venture managers of Polish, Czech and Slovak origins, Franklin helped form a venture investment company, European Renaissance Capital, to invest in and assist new and young companies in Poland and the Czech and Slovak Republics. Franklin has also been active in the formation of a buy-out fund in Romania and venture capital funds in Russia, Norway and New Zealand. Franklin serves as Member of the Board of International Advisors at IESE Business School in Barcelona. Franklin has been active jet pilot, is a close follower of the sport of track and field and has attended 12 Olympic Games. Franklin is was a Chairman of the Board of Directors at San Francisco Opera Company.