Dr. David Pensak, founder of Raptor, one of the first commercially successful Internet firewalls, will join other Internet innovators at Pioneers in Innovation: Three Legends of Internet Access. Pensak, along with Esther Dyson, founding chairman of ICANN and Dennis Hayes, who invented the first computer modem to connect personal computers to the Internet, will share the stage at the Chapman Cultural Center from 5 to 6 p.m. on Monday, September 14, 2015. The event will focus on the trio’s renowned careers, how innovation has evolved and shaped lives over the years, and where Internet technology is headed in the near future.
In addition to the creation of Raptor, Pensak also had a distinguished 30-year career at DuPont, where he held myriad senior research positions and served as a corporate technology growth champion, providing guidance for and managing advanced computer-technology explorations and development and advanced materials.
And, as one of our country’s most prolific and successful innovators, Pensak was the inventor of technology for two other successful information security companies including Authentica (acquired by EMC in February 2006), a recognized leader in the enterprise digital rights management market space, and Vi Laboratories, a leader in piracy prevention software.
Pensak has acted as an adviser for the U.S. Department of Energy, the Clinton Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection, and the U.S. Office of Technology Assessment and the National Center for Biotechnology Information. After retiring from DuPont, he joined the faculty at the Wharton School of Business and is currently on the faculties of George Washington University School of Law, Drexel University School of Biomedical Engineering, Science & Health Systems, Drexel University College of Medicine and the University of Delaware Business School. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Princeton in chemistry and a Master’s Degree and Ph.D. from Harvard, both in chemistry. He is also a Post-Doctoral Fellow at Harvard University.
His latest enterprise is Pensak Technologies, founded in 2009, which offers a suite of innovative new products which provide solutions for critical issues in industry. These include UbiquiShield, a family of fiberglass fabrics which provide flash flame deflection, as well as heat and fire barriers; HemoStable, which greatly improves the safety and temperature uniformity of blood and blood products during collection, shipping, and use; and GaussWear, a new approach to apparel closure using rare earth magnets set in geometric patterns.
