Carbonite CEO Mohamad Ali, a MassTLC Trustee and former Chairman of our Board, attended the State of the Union address in Washington, D.C. as a special guest of Senator Edward Markey.
“Mohamad Ali is the American Dream,” remarked Senator Markey in a statement. “He understands that America’s global competitive advantage comes from its openness to new people and new ideas, and his leadership on net neutrality is a model for the high-tech sector. I celebrate Mohamad’s story and success, and thank him for his commitment to diversity, job creation, and internet freedom.”
“I am honored to join Senator Markey as his guest at this year’s State of the Union address,” Ali said. “Senator Markey has been a strong ally in the fight to protect net neutrality and I’m proud of the work we’ve done together to bring awareness to this important issue.”
Despite the efforts of Markey, Ali and countless other net neutrality supporters, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission last December voted to repeal net neutrality regulations. Ali and other supporters of net neutrality predict the move will stifle competition and economic growth because it gives large companies with seemingly limitless resources an unfair advantage over the economy’s real innovators—small and midsize businesses. Ali plans to keep fighting for net neutrality.
Ali also attended the State of the Union address to show support for immigrant rights and workforce development issues. He believes the U.S. draws its global competitive advantage from its openness to new people and new ideas. And by embracing talented immigrants, the U.S. can begin to close the growing technology skills gap and grow its competitive edge.
According to MassTLC’s “Economic Impact of Immigration” report:
- Fifty-eight percent of Massachusetts-based Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants or their children. Those firms generate about $136.8 billion in annual revenue and employ approximate 466,892 people globally.
- Twenty-nine percent of new high-tech companies with at least one million dollars in sales in 2006 had at least one key founder who was foreign born.
- By 2020, about 1.4 million computer specialist positions will be open in the U.S. However, U.S. universities will only produce enough graduates to fill 29% of these jobs.
This article contains excerpts from a post on the Carbonite blog.
