Center for American Entrepreneurship Names Sean O’Sullivan to the Board of Directors
July 14, 2026
Washington D.C. – The Center for American Entrepreneurship (CAE) announces that Sean O’Sullivan of Princeton, NJ has been named to the board of directors.
The Center for American Entrepreneurship (CAE) is a nonpartisan, Washington, DC-based 501(c)(3) research, policy, and advocacy organization founded in July of 2017. CAE’s mission is to engage policymakers in Washington and across the nation regarding the critical importance of entrepreneurs and startups to innovation, economic growth, job creation, and expanding opportunity – and to pursue a comprehensive policy agenda intended to achieve a stronger, more resilient, and inclusive U.S. economy through thriving entrepreneurship.
Sean O’Sullivan is the Managing Director of SOSV, a venture capital firm with $1.5 billion in assets under management. A pioneering entrepreneur, O’Sullivan began his career in 1985 by founding MapInfo, which revolutionized PC street mapping, grew to over 1,000 employees, and generated $200 million in annual revenue. In 1996, while leading his second startup, NetCentric, he co-created the term “cloud computing” alongside Compaq’s George Favaloro.
Following MapInfo’s 1994 IPO, O’Sullivan launched SOSV as a “super angel” vehicle. He expanded it in 2007 into a global venture fund. Today, SOSV is led by 10 general partners across offices in San Francisco, New York, Newark, Cork, Pune, Princeton, and Singapore. Supported by a global staff of over 80, the firm funds 70 new startups annually and provides follow-on investments to over 150 deep-tech graduates of its signature programs (including HAX, SOSV SF and SOSV NY).
An active inventor with 30 patents, O’Sullivan is also a dedicated humanitarian and philanthropist. In 2003, he founded JumpStart International, leading the post-war humanitarian engineering organization through 2006 as it scaled to 3,000 staff and managed 80 projects across Iraq and the Gaza Strip. Through the O’Sullivan Foundation, he is a primary funder of educational and social initiatives like Khan Academy, I-ASC, and CoderDojo.
As the founding Chairman of the Irish Entrepreneurship Forum and founder of Open Ireland, O’Sullivan has significantly shaped Irish tech policy. His public presence includes serving as a regular investment panelist on RTÉ’s Dragon’s Den and writing for Ireland’s Sunday Business Post. He holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and an MFA in Film Production from the University of Southern California.
“I’m very pleased to welcome Sean O’Sullivan to CAE’s board,” said Dedric Carter, chair of the board. “As we enter America’s 250th year, the story of this nation has always been written by its entrepreneurs and innovators — those who turn bold ideas into economic reality. Sean personifies that history and exemplifies innovation community leadership. I look forward to working with Sean in pursuit of CAE’s mission to ensure that the next chapters of American innovation are as remarkable as those written over the past two and a half centuries.”
“Sean O’Sullivan brings to CAE’s board the perspective of both the serial entrepreneur and the startup investor, and will be a remarkable addition to CAE’s leadership,” said John Dearie, founder and president of CAE. “Sean understands in a profound way the importance of innovation and entrepreneurship to addressing some of humanity’s most pressing challenges, as well as the importance of sound public policy to thriving entrepreneurship. CAE is very fortunate to have Sean as the newest member of the board.”
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