Brian Totty

Unlike other execs who pad their biographies with tales of extreme kiteboarding, years at sea, and advanced degrees in bodybuilding, Brian Totty lives a humble life with his family while helping businesses mushroom into unstoppable global conglomerates. Dr. Brian (as he refuses to be called) received his PhD in computer science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, his MPA from Harvard's Kennedy School, and his BS from MIT; he also literally wrote the book on HTTP. While serving as CEO of Ludic Labs, Brian put his stubborn determination to good use by creating the Diddit social platform and Offer Foundry self-service deal exchange. Before that he stubbornly bicycled across the United States and stubbornly led Inktomi Corporation’s technology team to become the biggest IPO of 1998. As an advisor and investor in start-up companies, Brian is not afraid to stick his neck out, only actually breaking his neck once while snowboarding. Now that he's frequently visiting Groupon's Chicago headquarters, Brian is open to suggestions for restaurants, aquariums, and neck-brace discount outlets.