Joel Horn

Current

• Manager at Home Grown Developers

Past

• Managing Partner at Home Grown Oil
• Executive Director at Seattle Monorail Project
• Project Director at Wright Runstad & Company

• Project Director at Seattle Commons
• President/CEO at General Information Inc.
• General Manager, International Products at LEXIS/NEXIS
• Project Director at World Wildlife Fund
• Staff Director at The Year 2000 Committee

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Education

• Stanford University Graduate School of Business
• Colby College

Recommended

2 people have recommended Joel

Connections

123 connections

Industry

Renewables & Environment

Joel Horn’s Summary

Joel graduated from Stanford business school 28 years ago. He has managed projects/companies in many different sectors from small business to the Fortune 100 and from government agencies to non-profit organizations in renewable energy, software technology, real estate, transit, wildlife conservation, education, affordable housing, and parks. Joel blends deep expertise in finance and business management with a passion for improving the world in which he lives.

Joel enjoys leading teams that implement complex, fast-paced, high-growth projects. As General Manager of International Products at Lexis/Nexis he described the experience as “strapped to the nose of the space shuttle on take off.” He loved the job and was voted Manager of the Year by his 63 employees.

Along the way, he has managed or been part of teams that have:

-Raised tens of millions of dollars in venture and project finance money, and private equity
-Managed a $300 million Merger and Acquisition Fund
-Passed public bonds and levees in excess of $3 billion for schools, parks, housing and transit
-Negotiated and executed over $2 billion in complex contracts in the US, Europe, Japan as well as project labor agreements in excess of 6 million man-hours
-Earned a “Building of the Year” Award for Amazon.com’s World Headquarters
-Developed, permitted, built, leased, and sold the World Trade Center North in Seattle
-Led a community movement to build a new park and in-town neighborhood just North of Downtown Seattle
-Started and became the Executive Director of a new government that put in place all of the technology, land, construction contracts, and funding for a 14-mile elevated transit system
-Launched, grew, and sold numerous technology companies and real estate projects
-Awarded a Thomas J Watson Fellowship
-Served on the Boards of Rails-to-Trails, Rocky Mountain Institute, and Elevated Transportation Company. Currently on the Board of the Woods Hole Research Center.

Joel Horn’s Experience

• Manager

  Home Grown Developers

  (Privately Held; Renewables & Environment industry)

  November 2008 — Present (1 year 1 month)

  Home Grown Developers (HGD) offers strategy and management services to companies in the renewable energy and green technology markets.
  
  HGD currently manages McKinstry Reklaim (www.mckinstryreklaim.com) and Pacific Coast Canola (www.pacificcoastcanola.com).
  
  HGD's business model is to manage businesses in the renewable energy and green technology markets with a core staff of experts that can offer strategic and management services for each of these companies. There are several areas where these companies have overlapping opportunities/challenges and HGD will be able to address issues quicker, better, and with less expense than if these companies were managed by individual management teams.

• Managing Partner

  Home Grown Oil

  (Renewables & Environment industry)

  November 2007 — November 2008 (1 year 1 month)

  Home Grown Oil was formed in mid-2007 in order to pursue opportunities in the Pacific Northwest (PNW) vegetable oil and biodiesel market. The demand and price for vegetable oil in the PNW and the Pacific Rim has increased dramatically during 2007 and continues to grow rapidly in 2008. This market is being driven by strong demand for biodiesel feedstock and an historic shift in demand for edible oils. For more information please go to: www.wabiodiesel.com or www.pacificcoastcanola.com or to my blog Joel Horn - The View from North 59th Street at www.joelhorn.com

• Executive Director

  Seattle Monorail Project

  (Renewables & Environment industry)

  November 2002 — July 2005 (2 years 9 months)

  Executive director of the Seattle Monorail Project. During Joel's tenure the Monorail project directed an unprecedented public involvement effort (over 50,000 public comments) and technical studies that resulted in a route and alignment that was approved by the Monorail Board and the Seattle City Council. His team negotiated design-build-operate-and-maintain construction contracts worth over $2 billion and a project-labor agreement totaling 6 million work hours. The Monorail project created a new government agency that received recognition from state and independent audits, and managed operating and capital expenses within approved budgets for 2003, 2004, and 2005. Ultimately canceled by a public anti-tax vote, the team had completed the land acquisition for a $100 million transit corridor through the city. The project had also been issued an extremely complex array of environmental permits for 20 buildings and 14 miles of elevated railway.

• Project Director

  Wright Runstad & Company

  (Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Real Estate industry)

  October 1996 — 2001 (5 years )

  Between 1996 and 2001 Joel worked with Wright Runstad & Company to help meet the real estate needs of Seattle’s rapidly growing knowledge-based industries. He served as project lead for a team that built urban corporate campuses and renovated existing buildings for high-tech users including Amazon.com, Real Networks (World Trade Center North), and Visio Corporation (World Trade Center East). The privately-financed Amazon.com World Headquarters building won an Urban Land Institute “Building of the Year Award” (2000) for “Excellence Small-Scale Rehabilitation”.

• Project Director

  Seattle Commons

  (Civic & Social Organization industry)

  October 1991 — May 1996 (4 years 8 months)

  Joel started as a volunteer and became Project Director for a large civic movement to revitalize the South Lake Union area in Seattle just north of the downtown core, included a new 74 acre park and new land use zoning for high-tech commercial development and in-town housing.

• President/CEO

  General Information Inc.

  (Renewables & Environment industry)

  October 1987 — September 1990 (3 years )

  Recruited to run an existing forty-person venture start-up company. Built five new products in partnership with US West and AT&T, grew customer base to 140,000 people, and sold company.

• General Manager, International Products

  LEXIS/NEXIS

  (Information Technology and Services industry)

  1985 — 1988 (3 years )

  Member of a senior management team that grew Mead Data Central (MDC) from $97 million in revenue to over $300 million, from just under 1,000 employees to 2,400, in four years. Negotiated 20 international data rights contracts in Europe and Asia. Directed a technical team that built, tested, and launched the first customer product using a smart terminal interface into the MDC system.

• Project Director

  World Wildlife Fund

  (Civic & Social Organization industry)

  1982 — 1984 (2 years )

  Worked with the WWF scientists and board to create the first global planning process for the world’s largest international conservation organization, focusing on Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Africa. WWF revenues grew from less than $4 million annually to over $80 million annually during the ten years after the plan was accepted by the Board. In 2007, WWF had operating revenues of over $160 million.

• Staff Director

  The Year 2000 Committee

  (Renewables & Environment industry)

  1981 — 1984 (3 years )

  The Committee consisted of 18 prominent Americans who made recommendations to the President and the Congress of the United States for improving international data systems that were used to analyze the long-term global effects of human and natural resource trends. Worked most closely with Elliot Richardson, Bill Ruckelshaus, and Russell Train.

Joel Horn’s Education

• Stanford University Graduate School of Business

  MBA/PMP , 1979 — 1981

• Colby College

  1974 — 1977

Additional Information

Joel Horn’s Interests:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1q2fLqi_9A&feature=channel_page

Joel Horn’s Groups:

Woods Hole Research Center, Trustee, www.whrc.org

Education Initiative 728, Finance Co-Chair, November 2000, I-728 was a successful (over 70%) citizen initiative to reduce Seattle public school class size and improve student achievement.

Seattle Public Schools $330 million Building Levy, Citizen Chair, February 1985, organized overall campaign for this successful school funding levy.

Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, National Treasurer, 1986 – 1991

Joel Horn’s Honors:

Thomas J. Watson Fellow, 1977 – 1978

Joel Horn’s Contact Settings

Interested In:

• new ventures
• business deals
• getting back in touch