I have been writing a series of popular articles looking at Texans who are giving back to their communities. Today, I wanted to shine the spotlight on San Antonio entrepreneur Graham Weston.
The San Antonio entrepreneur
Graham Weston was born in 1964 and raised on a ranch near San Antonio.
His first business venture was in high school, taking photos of livestock shows and selling them to contestants. Weston went to Texas A&M and, after graduating, went into real estate.
It was in 1998 that Weston found success by investing in a web-hosting startup called Rackspace and becoming its CEO. He left the business in 2006 but, as the business's largest shareholder, enjoyed a financial windfall when Rackspace was bought for $4.3 billion by private equity firm Apollo Global Management in 2016.
After leaving Rackspace, Weston became a major downtown developer. His firm Weston Urban's projects have included developing the Frost Tower and renovating the Rand Building.
And he has also focused on philanthropy.
Philanthropy
Weston has been involved in numerous philanthropic endeavors.
Perhaps the biggest of these is founding the 80/20 Foundation. The mission of the 80/20 Foundation "is to invest in San Antonio's future by issuing grants to public charities that Attract, Grow, and Retain San Antonio's future workforce and job-creating entrepreneurs. By investing in public charities, the 80/20 Foundation can help grow the local tech ecosystem by finding untapped talent and offering unique educational opportunities in the great city of San Antonio."
Weston also supports San Antonio science and education projects, including a computer terminal at the public library, and he has also donated $15 million to support UTSA's School of Data Science.
When the COVID pandemic hit, Weston co-founded nonprofit Community Labs to ramp up COVID-19 testing in San Antonio.
Your thoughts
What other San Antonio organizations would you like to see Weston support? Please leave a comment below and share this article with others so they can join the conversation.
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