Tony Blair To Join Venture Capital Firm

SAUSALITO, Calif. (AP)— Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair is joining a Silicon Valley business as a senior adviser on environmental issues.

Khosla Ventures announced the association with Blair on Monday during its limited partner summit in Sausalito.

The firm, started by Sun Microsystems Inc. co-founder Vinod Khosla, has invested in companies pursuing alternative fuel strategies and other environmentally minded technologies.

Menlo Park's Khosla Ventures has invested companies including Cogenra Solar Inc., which wants to multiply the energy efficiency of solar cells, and Calera, which is converting manmade greenhouse gas emissions into sustainable building products.

Khosla said Blair will advise the companies it invest in on how to meet their business goals.

"He's going to help us in many areas that techie nerds like us here in Silicon Valley don't understand and tend to underestimate the importance of," Khosla said.

Since leaving office three years ago, Blair has urged policy makers and businessmen to work together on environmental problems.

"I'm more and more convinced that unless we connect and align the public policy space with the creativity and ingenuity and innovation of the entrepreneurs, we're not going to resolve this issue," Blair said. "The answer to this has got to lie in science and technology."

It wasn't disclosed how much Blair would be getting paid in this new advisory role. Blair said he would continue to work on his other projects, including his "Breaking the Climate Deadlock Initiative" in support of an international framework on climate change.
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The firm, started by Sun Microsystems Inc. co-founder Vinod Khosla, has invested in companies pursuing alternative fuel strategies and other environmentally minded technologies.

Menlo Park's Khosla Ventures has invested companies including Cogenra Solar Inc., which wants to multiply the energy efficiency of solar cells, and Calera, which is converting manmade greenhouse gas emissions into sustainable building products.

Khosla said Blair will advise the companies it invest in on how to meet their business goals.

"He's going to help us in many areas that techie nerds like us here in Silicon Valley don't understand and tend to underestimate the importance of," Khosla said.

Since leaving office three years ago, Blair has urged policy makers and businessmen to work together on environmental problems.

"I'm more and more convinced that unless we connect and align the public policy space with the creativity and ingenuity and innovation of the entrepreneurs, we're not going to resolve this issue," Blair said. "The answer to this has got to lie in science and technology."

It wasn't disclosed how much Blair would be getting paid in this new advisory role. Blair said he would continue to work on his other projects, including his "Breaking the Climate Deadlock Initiative" in support of an international framework on climate change.