Jonathan Peizer

Who is Jonathan Peizer?

Jonathan Peizer is a technologist and social entrepreneur.

Peizer earned an undergraduate degree in History at New York University. Prior to joining the Open Society Institute, Peizer was Systems Director for Cheyenne Software, and prior to that he held the same title at AFS International, a student exchange organization.

He is best known for his creation and direction of the Soros Foundation’s Open Society Institute’s global Internet initiatives, which engaged in Eastern Europe’s transition from communism to liberal democracy and saw some of the earliest use of the Internet strategically for the promotion of human rights, civil society, and independent media.

Peizer’s work bridges the intersection of emerging technology and political consciousness to try to harness the Internet for social change. Peizer founded and chairs Aspiration, a non-profit whose Social Source Commons library of GNU software provides resources for non-governmental organizations, and Capaciteria, a user-managed database of management resources assembled to empower non-profit initiatives.