Scotch College

Evan 'looks smart' at 2004 Speech Night

Evan Thornley (’82) recently returned to Scotch College to address the Year 12 Speech Night. He and Tracey Ellery co-founded internet search company LookSmart in October 1995 and Evan has served as Chair of the Board since then and was CEO until October 2002 when Tracey, Evan and their family returned to Australia.

LookSmart is headquartered in San Francisco and has about 150 employees. LookSmart went public on the NASDAQ in August 1999 (NASD:LOOK) and was listed on the ASX (ASX:LOK) in February 2000. Revenue in calendar 2003 was approximately A$200 million with positive cash flow generation of about A$20million with a further A$25million invested in R&D. The company currently has a market capitalisation of about A$300million.

LookSmart has been recognised with various awards including:

• The Best Search Engine category in 1998 and Most Entrepreneurial category in the 1999 AFR Australian Internet Awards;
• The 1999 BRW/Alcatel Business Award for Information Technology & Telecommunications; and
• The Australian Venture Capital Association Limited Chairman’s Award for Most Outstanding Contribution.

UPSIDE, the US Venture Capital magazine, named Evan one of the 100 most influential people in the digital world in its UPSIDE Elite 100 list and he was recently recognised as an ‘Innovation Hero’ by the Warren Centre of Advanced Engineering at the University of Sydney.

Prior to LookSmart, Evan was a management consultant with McKinsey & Company, the global consulting firm, in their New York, Kuala Lumpur and Melbourne offices. He has degrees in Law and Commerce from the University of Melbourne, where is also served as president of the SRC and as a founding officer of the National Union of Students.

Apart from Chairing the LookSmart Board of Directors, Evan is active in business, education, the community sector and public policy. He is currently:

• Actively mentoring several promising Australian high-tech start-ups;
• A member of the Council of The University of Melbourne and its Finance Committee;
• A member of the Board of Directors of The Brotherhood of St Laurence and leader of its Innovation Hub;
• A Board member of the ALP’s Chifley Research Centre, the Director of Research of the Australian Fabian Society and, with partner Tracey Ellery, recent purchaser of Pluto Press Australia – Australia’s premier social issues book publisher whose recent titles included Richard Florida’s Rise of the Creative Class and Mark Latham’s From the Suburbs.