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JIM SORENSON
AN IMPACT ENTREPRENEUR MAKING A DIFFERENCE
ABOUT JIM
A WORLD-RENOWNED ENTREPRENEUR, BUSINESS LEADER AND SOCIETAL INNOVATOR
James Lee Sorenson, known to us as Jim Sorenson, is a renowned entrepreneur, business leader, and societal innovator who gifted $13 million to the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah in 2013.
The gift was used to establish the James Lee Sorenson Global Impact Investing Center (SGI Center), which aims to cultivate impact investing expertise in students. Jim dedicated himself to mentoring the student participants and setting the SGI Center's direction.
Jim became the ringleader in developing ground-breaking industry categories, including digital video compression software, mass-market videophones, video relay service for the deaf and hard-of-hearing, and environmental testing. As an entrepreneur with a flare for discovery, Jim likes combining innovative ideas with talented management teams to produce growing new enterprises. These grow into multi-million companies that provide thousands of jobs for aspiring talents.
In his early career, Jim acquired and managed Utah Biomedical Test Labs and spun out a promising division, DataChem Laboratories, as an independent venture. DataChem became one of the nation's largest environmental testing laboratories, pioneering today's environmental testing industry.
As CEO of Sorenson Media, Jim built a team that developed the world's leading digital compression software, which played a crucial role in the emergence and prominence of video compression technology. His team also developed a high-quality, low-cost videophone that became the industry's standard design for the groundbreaking nationwide video relay service for the deaf and hard-of-hearing. Thanks to Jim and his team’s efforts, deaf individuals are empowered by helping them communicate via the Internet through interpreters in their visual native language, American Sign Language, with any hearing person in the United States.
Spun off as Sorenson Communications, the video relay service company grew quickly, raising revenue by 400% in 2003 and 2004, and expanding from 50 to 2,500 employees. In 2005, the company was acquired in the most lucrative private equity deal in Utah history up to that time. Sorenson Communications remains the nation's preeminent provider of video relay services and Utah's leading technology company with thousands of employees nationwide.
In 2009, Jim led a team that acquired a $701 million structured portfolio of commercial real estate loans from the FDIC. He also served as Chairman of the Board of MediConnect Global, a leader in medical record retrieval and digitization that sold to Verisk Analytics in 2012 for nearly $377 million.
In 2001, Jim provided the seed money for the University Venture Fund (UVF) at the David Eccles School of Business. UVF is now the world's largest student-run educational investment fund, providing unrivaled hands-on experience in venture capital and entrepreneurship for students.
Jim has served on many community service boards, including University Venture Fund, Art Works for Kids, Gallaudet University, the University of Utah's David Eccles School of Business, the Utah Sports Commission, and the Utah Governor's Office of Economic Development.
Join us and listen to Jim’s inspiring journey to becoming a multimillionaire while helping thousands of lives discover their purpose here at the Brunch With Billionaires podcast.