Jim Fruchterman

Who is Jim Fruchterman?

Jim Fruchterman is a social entrepreneur. He is a former technology entrepreneur who creates social technology enterprises that target underserved communities.

Fruchterman was a co-founder of Calera Recognition Systems in 1982. The company developed optical character recognition technology that allows computers to read virtually all printed text. In 1989, he founded Arkenstone, a nonprofit social enterprise that produced reading machines for people with visual disabilities based on the Calera technology. The same year, he also cofounded RAF Technology, Inc., a postal OCR technology company.

Arkenstone’s business assets and name were sold to the for-profit firm Freedom Scientific in April 2000, and the nonprofit changed its name to Benetech, which is now based in Palo Alto, California. Fruchterman has been President and CEO of Benetech since its founding.

Fruchterman served on two U.S. federal government advisory committees for disability issues: the Section 255 Telecommunications Access Advisory Committee and the Section 508 Electronic Information and Technology Access Advisory Committee. He is a founding director and was the 2008–2010 board chair of the Social Enterprise Alliance, a member organization for organizations or ventures that achieves its primary social or environmental mission using business methods. Fruchterman also serves on the board of directors at ZeroDivide, a nonprofit venture philanthropy foundation.