Frank H. McCourt, Jr. – McCourt Global & Project Liberty
Frank H. McCourt, Jr. is a civic entrepreneur and the executive chairman and former CEO of McCourt Global, a private family company committed to building a better future through its work across the real estate, sports, technology, media, and capital investment industries, as well as its significant philanthropic activities. Frank is proud to extend his family’s 130-year legacy of merging community and social impact with financial results, an approach that started when the original McCourt Company was launched in Boston in 1893.
He is a passionate supporter of multiple academic, civic, and cultural institutions and initiatives. He is the founder and executive chairman of Project Liberty, a far-reaching, $500 million initiative to transform the internet through a new, equitable technology infrastructure and rebuild social media in a way that enables users to own and control their personal data. The project includes the development of a groundbreaking, open-source internet protocol called the Decentralized Social Networking Protocol (DSNP), which will be owned by the public to serve as a new web infrastructure. It also includes the creation of Project Liberty’s Institute (formerly The McCourt Institute,) launched with founding partners Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., Stanford University in Palo Alto, CA, and Sciences Po in Paris, to advance research, bring together technologists and social scientists, and develop a governance model for the internet’s next era.
Frank has served on Georgetown University’s Board of Directors for many years and, in 2013, made a $100 million founding investment to create Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy. He expanded on this in 2021 with a $100 million investment to catalyze an inclusive pipeline of public policy leaders and put the school on a path to becoming tuition-free.
Frank owns the French football club Olympique de Marseille (OM) and formerly owned the Los Angeles Dodgers. With family roots in the construction business dating back to the late 19th century, Frank has built upon this history with initiatives ranging from the development of Boston’s Seaport to large, mixed-use projects in Dallas, London, Miami, New York City, and elsewhere.
Frank graduated from Georgetown University. He is married to Monica McCourt and is the proud father of seven.
His book, OUR BIGGEST FIGHT: Reclaiming Liberty, Humanity, and Dignity in the Digital Age, was published by Crown on March 12, 2024.
Our conversation with Frank was eye-opening, thought-provoking and inspiring. As a legendary figure in the Boston real estate industry who has truly ‘gone global’, Frank shared with us his story from the very beginnings in America for the McCourt family all the way through to today, where he has taken on the ambitious task of fixing the internet and the role technology is allowed to play in all of our lives.
For more info on McCourt Global and Project Liberty, please visit: https://www.mccourt.com/ and https://www.projectliberty.io/
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Tom Greeley
https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomasgreeley/
Mike Greeley