In 2005, Ted Waitt made a decisive shift away from the computer industry that had made him wealthy and towards a very different frontier of the world’s oceans. The co-founder of Gateway had spent years building one of America’s most recognisable personal computer companies, but after retiring from the business, he increasingly dedicated his time and resources to philanthropy and marine conservation. Since then, the Waitt Foundation has invested more than $70 million in ocean conservation initiatives, according to Waitt Institute. Through the Waitt Foundation, Waitt Institute and Blue Prosperity Coalition, his work has supported ocean research, marine protection and long-term planning with governments and local communities. The transformation represents a unique second act for a tech entrepreneur, one that moved from selling computers to tackling the growing challenge of protecting the planet’s increasingly pressured seas.
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