Donna L. Dubinsky ’77 B.A.
Portola Valley, California
Donna Dubinsky is cofounder and chief executive officer of Numenta, Inc., a technology development firm that is creating a new computer memory system modeled on the human brain’s neocortex. After graduating from Yale and earning an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, she worked at Apple Computer and then as a founder of Claris Corporation. In 1992 she joined Jeff Hawkins at Palm Computing, serving as president and chief executive officer. The handheld computer, the PalmPilot, introduced four years later, became the fastest-selling computer and consumer electronics product in history at the time. In 1998 Ms. Dubinsky and Mr. Hawkins founded Handspring, Inc., creator of the Treo Smartphone; it merged with Palm’s hardware group in 2003 to create a new company, Palm, Inc., where Ms. Dubinsky served as a director until early 2009. She and Mr. Hawkins founded Numenta in 2005. Ms. Dubinsky is a trustee of the Computer History Museum and the Peninsula Open Space Trust. She served as a member of the University Council. Ms. Dubinsky was named Successor Trustee in 2006.
