Randall Kaplan


Randall Kaplan is a serial entrepreneur. He is a co-founder of Akamai Technologies. Kaplan is an active venture investor and is the managing partner of JUMP Investors, a Los Angeles-based venture capital and private equity firm.

Early Life

Kaplan grew up in Detroit, Michigan and graduated from the University of Michigan with Highest Distinction. After graduation, Kaplan moved to Chicago to attend the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law at Northwestern University. Kaplan is on the Northwestern Law Board, has been a guest lecturer at Northwestern Law School, and received the school’s first Distinguished Entrepreneur Award in 2006.

Business Career

In 1996, Kaplan started his business career where at age 27 he was hired to be the Assistant to the Chairman at SunAmerica working closely with its then founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer, Eli Broad.
In August 1998, Kaplan left SunAmerica to start Akamai Technologies with Tom Leighton, Daniel Lewin, and Jonathan Seelig. After leaving Akamai, Kaplan started JUMP Investors, a Los Angeles-based venture capital and private equity firm that today functions as his family office and investment firm.
Kaplan is currently the Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Sandee, LLC, a Los-Angeles-based travel start-up. Kaplan is also the owner and Chief Executive Officer of CollarCard, LLC, a Los Angeles-based promotional products company.

Philanthropy

In 1996, at the age of 27, Kaplan started The Justice Ball, a charity concert that several years after its formation became one of the leading philanthropic events in Los Angeles. The beneficiary of the event is Bet Tzedek Legal Services, a non-profit public interest law firm that provides free comprehensive legal services for low-income individuals and families in Los Angeles.
In addition to his philanthropic efforts through The Justice Ball, Kaplan is the co-founder and current co-chair of The Imagine Ball. The Imagine Ball is an annual charity concert whose proceeds benefit Imagine LA, a non-profit breaking the cycle of family homelessness and poverty in Los Angeles through the power of mentoring.
Kaplan established the Julia Eder Dean’s Scholarship at the University of Michigan in honor of his grandmother – an all-expenses, all-tuition scholarship for a student who, like Kaplan’s grandmother, was raised in foster care. Kaplan has also endowed a permanent full-tuition, need-based scholarship at the University of Michigan.