Doug Ahlers
Contact:
Email: doug_ahlers@hks.harvard.edu
Experience
Doug Ahlers helped pioneer e-commerce and online advertising. He co-founded Modem Media, Inc., which created Internet strategies for Fortune 500 companies. He is currently working on a book that examines the role of the Internet in the changing power dynamic between individuals/groups and nation-states. A resident of New Orleans, he started the Kennedy School Broadmoor Project, a collaborative redevelopment effort between the hurricane-devastated Broadmoor neighborhood and KSG. He has been involved in the development and deployment of online services since the early 1980's. Mr. Ahlers helped design and build the first online shopping sites and the first online travel site. He also built the first commercial website on the Internet (Zima.com) and created (for AT&T) the first banner ad to appear on the Internet. Mr. Ahlers is the cofounder of Modem Media, Inc., where he created comprehensive Internet strategies for Fortune 500 companies. Modem Media subsidiary Poppe Tyson created the first website for the White House and also created the spin-off company DoubleClick. Mr. Ahlers has also started two venture capital firms in the technology arena, funding companies in the areas of online radio, CRM, database marketing and datamining. Mr. Ahlers was a Spring 2005 Fellow at the Shorenstein Center for Press, Politics and Public Policy, where he examined the impact of the Internet on the way people get their news information. He is currently working on a book that examines the role the Internet is playing in the changing power dynamic between individuals/groups and nation-states.
May 14, 2013
Genesis of Recupera Chile
Fact Sheet
By Doug Ahlers
Following Hurricane Katrina, the Belfer Center's Broadmoor Project was developed by then Belfer Center Senior Fellow Doug Ahlers to work with the Broadmoor neighborhood to rebuild the devastated community. Highly successful, Broadmoor is now a model of recovery, almost 90 percent rebuilt, with a new charter school, library, and community center. (See Broadmoor Project.)
With Ahlers vision and leadership, the Broadmoor Project has also helped other disaster-struck communities. Here, Ahlers describes how the Broadmoor model is currently assisting in the recovery of three Chilean communities nearly destroyed by the earthquake and tsunami of 2010. The genesis of the Recupera Chile initiative is described below.
Summer 2013
"From New Orleans to Chile: Broadmoor Model Aids Community Recovery"
Newsletter Article, Belfer Center Newsletter
By Doug Ahlers
"When Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005, then-Belfer Center Senior Fellow Doug Ahlers, a former resident of New Orleans, immediately realized that he and the Kennedy School could help. The result was the Belfer Center’s Broadmoor Project, a collaboration with the Broadmoor neighborhood....Broadmoor is now a model of recovery, almost 90 percent rebuilt, with a new charter school, library, and community center....With Ahlers vision and leadership, the Broadmoor Project has also helped other disaster-struck communities. Below, Ahlers describes how the Broadmoor model is currently assisting in the recovery of three Chilean communities nearly destroyed by the earthquake and tsunami of 2010."
