Gene Hoffman

Background

Hoffman was born in Charlotte, North Carolina and grew up in Matthews, North Carolina, He attended high school at Charlotte Latin School.

Education

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Career

At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Hoffman was a manager of the men"s basketball team He also co-founded the University of North Carolina Darkside ultimate team While in college he co-founded PrivNet, an internet privacy software company that pioneered ad blocking software, web cookie management, and search integrated into web browsers.

PGP, Incorporated. acquired PrivNet in November 1996.

Hoffman co-founded in January 1998. As head of, Mr. Hoffman was an advocate for the distribution of DRM free music on the Internet.

Mr. Hoffman led the acquisition of EMusic by Vivendi/Universal in June 2001.

Hoffman co-founded in January 2003. offers a subscription acquisition and retention platform to clients that include National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing, Bloomberg, Vimeo, Encyclopedia Britannica, Star Trek Online,, and Leap Frog. was named a Red Herring 2012 Top 100 Americas leading private technology company. was one of the fastest growing companies in Silicon Valley in 2011. Hoffman was named one of the 40 Under 40 by the San Francisco Business Times in March 2012.

Hoffman co-founded and is the chairman of the in March 2008. Hoffman was responsible for promoting and designing certain elements of a magazine lock for California Legal Arkansas-15 pattern rifles known as the bullet button and obtaining an admission from the California Department of Justice that the bullet button made certain rifles California legal.

The has been responsible for many high profile defenses of innocent Californians accused of violating California"s complex weapons laws.

The served as amicus to the appellants in McDonald v. Chicago and Nordyke v. King and has filed many civil rights cases in California to overturn laws they consider unconstitutional.

Many cases have to lose in lower courts.

Teixeira v. County of Alameda is an excellent example of how cases may be forced to create circuit splits with cases like Ezell v. City of Chicago to obtain serious review under the Second Amendment.

One of these civil rights cases, a case which was filed against the state"s "may-issue" carry licensing law enforced by the Sacramento County Sheriff" General’ s Office, resulted in the historic first settlement that required the sheriff"s office to issue a carry license for self-defense to residents of the county, subject to background investigation. was again recognized as 2012 Grassroots Organization of the Year. Hoffman was an early collaborator on the 2013 film Assaulted: Civil Rights Under Fire, working closely with director Kris Koenig to create the story arc.

Hoffman"s interviews were prominently featured in the documentary.

Achievements

• Hoffman was the co-founder of, one of the first internet music companies, the co-founder of and the co-founder of the Under Hoffman"s chairmanship the was honored as the 2009 Grassroots Organization of the Year by the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms and Hoffman was named the Gun Rights Defender of the Year by them in 2010.

Membership

He was featured on the cover of Forbes Magazine as a member of the July 1999 East-Gang, and named one of the 100 most influential entrepreneurs in technology in Upside Magazine"s November 2000 Elite 100.