Professional History
1972
Born (Southern California)
1979
First introduction to C/Unix on the University of California, Santa Barbara, computer center.
1982
First part-time job as a software tester
1985
Paid instructor for teachers in the Santa Barbara Public Schools district on the topic of Pascal programming
1987
Sold custom library in a of C code to a major software company in a significant acquisition transaction. The custom libraries allowed for asynchronous input/output through RS232 serial ports beyond the traditional 2-port limit imposed by 16550 UART devices on PC-compatible computers at the time.
1990's
Learned Corporate Finance working for a major New-York based investment bank. Worked on many (hundreds) of business start-up and reorganization transactions.
1998
Founded Quepasa, would become the first major bicultural, bilingulal (English/Spanish) Social Network in U.S. history, and the first Social Network to trade on a major stock exchange. We beat out the original Yahoo! Spanish language network in our first year, which was our competition at the time.
1999
Early investments made in significant, standout early Internet infrastructure companies Exodus Communications and Limelight Networks, among others.
1999
Recruited Jose Maria Figueres, the President of the country of Costa Rica, to Quepasa's Board of Directors.
1999
Recruited Grammy-award winning singer, Gloria Estefan, as Quepasa's corporate spokesperson, making Quepasa the only product she ever endorsed in her entire career. (Although they persued her endorsement for many years, she had never endorsed Coke, or Pepsi, or any other brand at the time.)
1999
Fired from Quepasa by a "new CEO" that I hired 60 days prior. The controversy reported by the national news for about a month, resulting in complex civil litigation. The litigation settled in November 1999 with a payout to me of about $2.5 million USD, and a sale of all my remaining Quepasa shares. (Market value: About $300 million. Exit value: About $40 million USD)
2002
Took over Quepasa again after the prior management group erased its market value. Started building it back up.
2003
Major Democrat donor, helped start the careers of U.S. Senator Kyrsten Sinema, among others, many whom were based in Arizona where I lived at the time.
2003
Became a Technology Advisor to Vicente Fox, the elcted President of Mexico.
2006
Rebuilding Quepasa, as a company and in its public markets. It's trading volume had eclipsed a billion dollars (USD) by this time.
2007
Sold the refurbished, fixed-up Quepasa as a Social Network with 40 million users, in an acquisition transaction to Richard L. Scott ("Rick Scott"), before he got in to Politics. (He was a venture capitalist at the time) Rick later became the Governor, and then senior U.S. Senator, for the State of Florida. (Market value: About $150 million. Exit value: About $10 million USD)
2008
Semi-retired.
2012
Worked on a startup, proposed its business ideas to Mexico's largest telcom entrepreneur who passed on the idea at the time.
2013
Joined the U.S. Philippines Society Board of Directors, led by Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, former chairman and chief executive officer of American International Group (AIG) and John Negroponte, former U.S. Director of National Intelligence.
2014
Became a technology advisor to Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III, 15th President of the Philippines.
2016
Left behind the prior startup(s) to focus on other business.
2017
Left the United States Democrat Party.
2017, December
An investor group, led by a politically-connected figure (Dennis Burke, the former U.S. Attorney who was forced to resign in shame during the Obama-era 'Fast and Furious' scandal), publishes a "hit piece" news article about me in the Arizona Republic newspaper, alleging problems with the 2013 start-up company project. The article was false. I sued the newspaper but my lawsuit was dismissed, they defended it with the "Peterson is a public figure" defense, claiming it was not defamatory. (I of course disagreed)
2018
Invested in a movie about Jack Canfield, the author of the Chicken Soup for the Soul Books. He is a resident of my home town, Santa Barbara, California. Always appreciated his writing.
2019, April
Sued by an investor group alleging "fraud" in connection with the startup we launched years prior in 2013. Lawsuit answered with my defense that it was a ridiculous, politically motivated retaliatory lawsuit.
2019, September
The investor group's lawsuit against me was dismissed (with prejiduce by the Maricopa County Superior Court, meaning, it cannot be re-filed). Related document: Court Order - Dismissal of Lawsuit
2021, September
Launched Jeff.pro, a online brand focused on technical education for mainstream America. Visit Jeff.pro
2022, September
Jeff.pro became profitable
2024
Jeff.pro, together with its sub-project, has about 100,000 users.