Jane Metcalfe

Jane Metcalfe
Name	Jane Metcalfe
Birth date	1951
Occupation	Entrepreneur, publisher, investor
Known for	Co-founder of Wired

Jane Metcalfe is an American entrepreneur, publisher, and investor best known as a co-founder and former publisher of Wired magazine. She has been active in technology publishing, venture investing, and philanthropic initiatives, engaging with a wide network of media, technology, and cultural institutions. Metcalfe's career intersects with prominent figures and organizations across Silicon Valley, journalism, and design.

Early life and education

Metcalfe was born in the early 1950s and grew up in a milieu that connected local communities with broader cultural currents. She pursued higher education that brought her into contact with academic institutions and cultural organizations. During her formative years she encountered networks associated with Yale University, Harvard University, Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Columbia University, which influenced her interest in media and technology. Early associations and internships linked her to editorial environments at publications like The New Yorker, The New York Times, Rolling Stone, The Village Voice, and Wired UK peers, shaping her subsequent career in publishing.

Career

Metcalfe's professional trajectory moved through journalism, magazine publishing, and technology entrepreneurship. She worked with editorial teams and media companies connected to Condé Nast, Time Inc., The Washington Post Company, Advance Publications, and Hearst Communications. Her network extended to technology firms and research institutions including Apple Inc., Microsoft, Intel, Google, Adobe Systems, Sun Microsystems, and Netscape Communications Corporation. She collaborated with designers and thinkers from IDEO, Pentagram, AOL, Netflix, and Amazon (company), and engaged with cultural institutions such as Smithsonian Institution, Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Tate Modern, and Victoria and Albert Museum.

Co-founding and leadership at Wired

In 1993 Metcalfe co-founded Wired magazine alongside figures from technology and journalism circles, building relationships with co-founders and contributors tied to Kevin Kelly (editor), Louis Rossetto, Nicholas Negroponte, Stewart Brand, Richard Saul Wurman, and Paola Antonelli. Under her leadership as publisher, Wired forged editorial and design partnerships with creators associated with Esquire, Fast Company, New York Magazine, The Atlantic Monthly, and Wired (magazine) contributors from the broader media ecosystem. The magazine covered innovations from companies and projects like Silicon Valley, DARPA, MIT Media Lab, Bell Labs, Xerox PARC, RSA Conference, and events such as South by Southwest, COMDEX, Web Summit, and TechCrunch Disrupt. Metcalfe's tenure involved strategic interactions with investors and media owners including Advance Publications, Condé Nast, and venture capital firms linked to Sequoia Capital, Kleiner Perkins, Benchmark (venture capital), Accel Partners, and Andreessen Horowitz.

Later ventures and entrepreneurship

After Wired, Metcalfe participated in new ventures, angel investing, and advisory roles with startups and institutions tied to Etsy, Kickstarter, Patreon, Shopify, and Squarespace. She engaged with innovation ecosystems associated with Y Combinator, 500 Startups, Techstars, Plug and Play Tech Center, and university incubators at Stanford University and University of California, Berkeley. Her entrepreneurship connected her with social impact and design initiatives involving IDEO.org, Rockefeller Foundation, Ford Foundation, Knight Foundation, and Mozilla Foundation. Metcalfe also collaborated with cultural and technological projects referencing The Long Now Foundation, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Creative Commons, Open Source Initiative, and research partnerships linked to Carnegie Mellon University.

Philanthropy and advocacy

Metcalfe has engaged in philanthropy and advocacy across media, technology, and health sectors, working with organizations and initiatives such as The Rockefeller Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Wellcome Trust, Clinton Foundation, and United Nations-linked programs. She supported cultural institutions and programs affiliated with National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities, Asia Society, Museum of Contemporary Art, and regional initiatives in San Francisco. Her advocacy intersected with digital rights and open knowledge movements connected to Electronic Frontier Foundation, Creative Commons, Wikimedia Foundation, Open Knowledge Foundation, and policy forums including World Economic Forum, SXSW EDU, and G20 panels.

Personal life and recognition

Metcalfe's personal and professional networks include friendships and collaborations with leaders in technology, design, and journalism such as Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Tim Berners-Lee, Vint Cerf, Aaron Swartz, Joi Ito, Sheryl Sandberg, Marissa Mayer, Evan Williams, Jack Dorsey, Reid Hoffman, and Peter Thiel. She has been recognized by media outlets and institutions associated with Vanity Fair, Forbes, The New York Times Magazine, Fortune (magazine), Time (magazine), and academic honors from universities like Princeton University and Yale University. Metcalfe continues to participate in speaking engagements, boards, and advisory roles across cultural and technological platforms and organizations.

Category:American publishers Category:Women in technology