Our mission is to further the long term-growth of the seasteading movement. Our current focus is to enable the first seasteads by researching critical engineering, legal and business challenges, increasing public awareness, and building a core seasteading community.The Seasteading Institute was founded in 2008 by activist, software engineer and political economic theorist Patri Friedman, grandson of Nobel Prize winning economist Milton Friedman, and technology entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist Peter Thiel.
Michael Gibson
VP Grants, Thiel FoundationMichael Gibson is co-founder and general partner at 1517 Fund, an early stage venture capital fund that works with hackers and makers outside the university sys...
James R. Von Ehr II
Founder and Chairman of Zyvex Technologies, Zyvex Labs, and ZycraftRecognized as a leader within the nanotechnology industry, he founded the Texas Nanotechnology Initiative and the Feynman Grand Prize in Nanotechnology. His sig...
Jonathan Cain
President of the Thiel FoundationJonathan is co-founder of the 20 Under 20 Thiel Fellowship, which identifies and supports the tech visionaries of tomorrow. He also serves as a principal at Cla...
Titus Gebel
Titus Gebel is founder, President & CEO of Free Private Cities Inc. and partner at NeWAY Capital. He is a German entrepreneur with a PhD in international law an...
Susanna Dokupil
Susanna Dokupil is the Vice Chairman of the Harris County Republican Party and the founder of Documenting the American Dream, a video project that teaches core ...
Lelei TuiSamoa LeLaulu
A development entrepreneur operating in the confluences of food security, regenerative ecology, responsible tourism, smart investment, creative energy generatio...
Patri Friedman
Chairman of the BoardPatri received a BS in math from Harvey Mudd College, an MS in computer science from Stanford University, and an MBA from Cardean University. While in school he...
Randolph Hencken
Business AdvisorRandy earned his MA in communication and his BS in business administration from San Diego State University. From 2008 to 2011, he was the Director of Communicat...
Joe Quirk
President, Author, AquapreneurJoe Quirk is President of The Seasteading Institute and co-founder of Blue Frontiers. Joe Quirk is also a science writer, novelist, and memoir ghostwriter, with...
O.Shane Balloun
LawyerO.Shane Balloun is a lawyer in Western Washington, practicing at his firm, Balloun Law Professional Corporation. His areas of practice include admiralty and mar...
John Chisholm
Board of Trustees (2009-2014)John Chisholm is CEO of San Francisco-based John Chisholm Ventures, an entrepreneurial advisory and investment firm. He is founder and former CEO/chair of Deci...
Tom W. Bell
Professor of Law and Legal ConsultantProfessor Tom W. Bell earned his J.D. from the University of Chicago, practiced law in Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C., and served as a policy director at t...
Carly Jackson
Development DirectorCarly Jackson joined the Seasteading community after meeting a group of seasteaders at the Startup Societies Conference in August 2017. She has dreamed of livin...