Alexandre Mars

Background

Mars was born in the Boulogne-Billancourt neighborhood of Paris, and raised in France and the United States. His parents were French. His father Dominique was an entrepreneur who founded Mars and Company, a consulting company.

Education

He attended Florent Schmitt de Saint-Cloud high school, Higher Education Commission Paris, and Paris Dauphine University.

Career

He founded the instant messaging technology company Scroon, later acquired by BlackBerry Limited, and has been Chief Executive Officer of the technology company Phonevalley. While still a high school student he founded a concert promotion company and one of Europe"s first web agencies. From 1998-2001, Alexandre Mars ran his own venture fund, Mars Capital.

In 2001 he founded Phone Valley, a mobile telephone company, and sold it to Publicis Groupe in 2007, staying on as manager of the Publicis mobile phone division.

In 2006 he founded a social media management system called ScrOOn, and sold it to BlackBerry Limited in 2013. In 2014 he founded a New York-based charity called the Epic Foundation, designed to link wealthy young entrepreneurs with charities helping children and young people.

The foundation"s goal is to "develop new tools that will enhance how donors select, monitor and experience their impact.” The foundation accepts applications from non-governmental and social service agencies. The 15-member staff evaluates the applications, makes recommendations to the foundation"s clients, and helps them to track the effect of their donations.

Mars funds the Foundation"s operations personally, so that 100% of donations go to the targeted charities.

In 2015, he was named one of New York City’s top 20 philanthropists under 40 by the New York Observer. Mars has been an outspoken critic about advertising on mobile platforms. He has said existing advertisers do not focus on the technology well, saying they "always go with the easiest answer.

Google for sure—less and less America Online." He has criticised data mining from companies such as Facebook, saying the company needs to get additional permission from users in order to individually target them more carefully.

Mars has been an advocate for children and youth. He launched Epic Foundation in 2014 with the mission to bridge the gap between individual and corporate donors and organizations supporting kids globally using innovation.

The Foundation works in the United States, Western Europe, Brazil, East Africa, Southeast Asia and India.

Achievements

• He is also the founder and chief executive officer of the Epic Foundation.