Board of Directors > Biography

Joshua Knauer

Executive and Corporate Planning Committee

Mr. Knauer is a serial tech entrepreneur with two successful exits and a ceaseless fascination about how we can use emerging technology and data to make decisions for a better future. He’s currently a co-founder of ReSeed, General Partner at JumpScale, an Adjunct Professor at Carnegie Mellon University, and an Advisor for Columbia Technology Ventures/NYSERDA.

Mr. Knauer has had a wide range of professional experience, ranging from helping indigenous tribes in the Africa Sacanna implement business strategies to protect their land and culture to interactions in the boardrooms of Fortune 100 companies, universities, and nonprofits.

Mr. Knauer was invited by President Barack Obama to join the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology to work on creating and implementing open data initiatives. Josh has also served on a wide range of local, national and international non-profit boards, including the Social Venture Network and WQED Multimedia. He mentors startups and entrepreneurs and frequently speaks at events like SXSW, AdWeek, the International Television Festival and at many universities.

Mr. Knauer is deeply passionate about the role that WQED can play in Western Pennsylvania as a central hub for community engagement, education, and culture and has been working on strategies for more inclusive community engagement.

Mr. Knauer has a B.A. in Environmental Ethics and Policy from Carnegie Mellon University