Philanthropy

Steve is a strong believer in giving back to the community, especially in helping new generations of entrepreneurs and women reach their full potential in 21st century society.  Toward that end, he is active with the following groups:

• MIFOS - As a strong advocate for entrepreneurial-based solutions to poverty, Steve is working with the Grameen Foundation and Reuters Fellow Steve Ketchpel on MIFOS, the MicroFinance Open Source System.  This exciting system will help run the next generation of micro-finance banks in the developing world.
  
  
• Girls' Middle School - As a strong believer in girls' education and preparing young women to take their place in the world, Steve is a team coach at the nation's pre-eminent girls' entrepreneurship program at GMS in Mountain View.  He has also taught entrepreneurship at Julia Morgan School for Girls in Oakland as part of the FWE Early $tart Program.
  
  
• Forum for Women Entrepreneurs - As a long-time member of FWE and strong proponent of its programs, Steve has served on the Advisory Board for a number of years. 
  
  
• Pacific Community Ventures - PCV provides funding and consulting to small businesses in challenged or underserved (minority) communities in an effort to grow the employment base.   Steve provides pro bono consulting to a pair of PCV companies, BPS Solutions, a semiconductor equipment maker, and Howler Ice Cream.  In both cases, Steve assists with equipment and process engineering.
  
  
• Women's Technology Cluster - Steve has performed a variety of roles at the WTC, including the Life Science Advisory Board, mentoring both life science and software companies, and sponsoring a Fulbright Scholar at the WTC's parent organization, the Three Guineas Fund.
  
  
• FIRST Robot Teams  - Steve mentors the FIRST robotics  competition team at Palo Alto's Gunn High School.  Fifty students work months in their own machine shops to build a highly mobile computerized robot to compete internationally.