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Thursday, August 15, 2013

Greg Carr to be inducted into Idaho Tech Council's hall of fame

Greg Carr
Idaho Falls native Greg Carr, who made a fortune in telecommunications then graduated to philanthropy, will join the Idaho Technology Council Hall of Fame during an induction ceremony at Boise Centre on the Grove Oct. 23.

The son of Dr. Taylor Carr and his wife, Betty, Carr spent his undergraduate years at Utah State University, graduating as valedictorian of the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences. While enrolled in the master’s program at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, Carr and some associates recognized an opportunity in the telecommunication services sector and in 1986 founded Boston Technology. Within four years the company had become the nation’s number one voice-mail provider to telephone companies.

By the end of the 1990s Carr had amassed a net worth of nearly $200 million, and when he turned 40 he decided to devote the rest of his life to philanthropy. In 1998 he co-founded the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University. In 2000 a donation he made allowed for the transformation and expansion of Idaho Falls' Bonneville County Museum into the Museum of Idaho. He donated $1 million to help develop the Idaho Human Rights Education Center in Coeur d'Alene and the Anne Frank Memorial in Boise.

Carr now divides his time between Sun Valley and Mozambique, where he signed a 20-year agreement with the government to restore and manage that country's flagship national park, Gorongosa. He is working with Zoo Boise to establish a 2-acre exhibit reflecting the Gorongosa habitat.

Also being inducted is Tim Barber, co-founder Keynetics Inc., now the largest privately held technology company in Idaho.

Barber's patents have led to the founding of four Idaho technology companies, including Kount, an industry leading fraud-prevention company serving the world's largest payment processors and retailers; and ClickBank, an e-commerce platform for internet entrepreneurs. He recently moved away from the daily operations of Keynetics to launch 2AI Labs, a research collaboration focusing on the nature of intelligence in humans and machines, and O2Amp, an optics company that provides lenses medical professionals can use to detect health-related color changes.

"These distinguished business and community leaders serve as pathfinders to the next generation of technology professionals to drive innovations that continue to grow the Idaho economy," said Idaho Department of Commerce Director Jeff Sayer said in a press release.

The October banquet will also feature this year’s winners of the Idaho Innovation Award, to be presented in four categories: Commercialized Innovation of the Year; Early-Stage Innovation of the Year; Innovative Company of the Year; and Innovator of the Year. The innovation awards program is sponsored by Stoel Rives and Kickstand.

Council members and members of the public can reserve tables or sponsorships for the banquet by contacting Pamela Prather at pprather@idahotechcouncil.org. Individual tickets can be purchased at http://www.idahotechcouncil.org/itc-hall-of-fame-2013.