Peter Thiel is the co-founder of PayPal, a venture initially designed as an independent, non-governmental currency. He is president of Clarium Capital, a highly successful hedge fund, and was one of the early investors in the social networking site Facebook.

Thiel has also supported a wide variety of nonprofit ventures, including the Methuselah Mouse Prize, which aims to control and perhaps reverse biological aging; the Singularity Institute, which promotes the development of artificial intelligence; and the Seasteading Institue.

Thiel holds a J.D. from Stanford University.