Doug Carlston is a technology entrepreneur and a founder of several startups, including icPlanet (a web service for independent consultants, Applied Minds (a technology incubator) and GlobalEnglish (an internet site that teaches English). Doug has served as chairman of the board of Public Radio International, a leading source for public radio programming, since June 2003, having been a member of that board since March 1997. He also serves as chief executive officer of Tawala Systems, an Internet technology company he co-founded in 2005. Previously, in 1980, Doug co-founded Brøderbund Software, one of the world's leading publishers of productivity and educational software, and served as chief executive officer from 1991until 1996 and as chairman of the board from 1981 until 1998.

Doug has served on the boards of several nonprofit organizations, including Public Radio International, MetaTV, Mpath Interactive Inc., and Public Interactive, the Santa Fe Institute, Belo Corp., MoveOnPAC, Ploughshares Fund, and the Long Now Foundation. He is also on the board of advisers of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Doug graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University in 1970, and also studied economics at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He received his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1975.