Mr. George Bell

Chair, Upromise, Inc. & Special Venture Partner, General Catalyst Partners

George Bell is a Special Venture Partner at General Catalyst Partners, a private equity firm that invests in exceptional entrepreneurs building technology-enabled companies. Bell is also the Chair and former CEO of Upromise (upromise.com), a Boston-based early stage company that aims to make college affordable for every family in America through a free service that brings together a unique coalition of loyalty partners (Citi, AOL, McDonalds and many others), grocery partners (Kroger, Safeway, Albertsons, Ahold, Coca Cola, Proctor and Gamble, and others) and a tax-advantaged college savings plan. The company hopes to help solve the crisis of college funding in America.

From 1996-2001, Bell was President and CEO of Excite, one of the web’s first search engines. At his arrival, the company had 22 employees and no revenue. In 1999, Bell oversaw the sale of a profitable Excite to @Home for $7B – at the time, the largest transaction in the history of the internet. He then became Chairman and CEO of Excite Home. Shortly after this merger, AT&T took majority control of Excite@Home. At its peak, the company had a market capitalization of $46B and employed 3,000 people in 18 offices around the world.

From 1991-1995, Bell was SVP, Times Mirror Magazines, acquired by AOL/TW in 2001. At various times, as Group Publisher, he held operating responsibility for Field & Stream, SKI, Skiing, Trans World SNOWboarding, Salt Water Sportsman and Yachting magazines, as well as the company's multimedia efforts. Bell was instrumental in the 1995 launch of the Outdoor Life Network, a special interest cable channel that now reaches 40 million homes.

Prior to joining Times Mirror Magazines, Bell was a producer and writer of conservation, culture and adventure documentaries for ABC, CBS, National Geographic and the Discovery Channel. Altogether, Bell has produced films in over 40 countries, from Mt. Everest to Africa's Ituri rainforest. Bell has won four national Emmy Awards.

Bell received his BA from Harvard in 1980, and was an All-American squash player. He serves on the boards of Harris Interactive Inc., the Massachusetts Software Council (as Chairman), the Schepens Eye Institute, and is Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Trust for Public Land. He lives in Brookline, MA with his wife and three children.