George Bell
Boston,
Massachusetts
George is a Managing Director of General Catalyst and is currently on leave and serving as CEO of Jumptap, the leading, independent mobile ad network. George is not making any new investments at this time.
George has been involved in the creation and growth of consumer businesses for 25 years. Before General Catalyst, he was CEO of Upromise, the country's largest college savings service, sold in 2006 to Sallie Mae. Previously, George was Chairman and CEO of Excite@Home, bringing together the Excite portal with the @Home cable broadband platform in a $7 billion merger. George was CEO of Excite prior to the merger, led the company's IPO, oversaw the acquisition of more than 20 companies and expanded Excite into a worldwide media property. Earlier George founded The Outdoor Life Network (now Versus Network), a specialty cable channel reaching 60+MM homes; and served as SVP, Times Mirror Magazines, where he oversaw eight special interest magazines, such as SKI and Field & Stream.
He won the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award both in California and New England and four national Emmy Awards as a producer and writer of adventure, wildlife and vanishing culture documentaries. George has also been featured in TIME, Fortune, Forbes and Business Week, has appeared regularly on CNBC as both as a guest and co-host, and he's spoken extensively on new media, convergence, and leadership.
George's board memberships include: General Catalyst: DataLogix, Jumptap; Observer to Big Fish Games. He is a former board member of Going.com (acquired by AOL, June 2009), and former Board Chairman of Harris Interactive (NASDAQ: HPOL). He is an advisory board member to Adsafe, Next Jump, and Simulmedia, Inc. His non-profit board memberships include the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council and the National Urban Squash and Education Association. George holds a BA from Harvard College.
