George Lucas Educational Foundation

Marshall Turner

Board Member, George Lucas Educational Foundation

Marshall Turner chairs the board of directors of the AB Funds, a family of 96 mutual funds managed by AllianceBernstein LLP in New York. In addition to the George Lucas Educational Foundation, he is a member of the boards of: Xilinx, Inc. a $3.16B revenue semiconductor industry leader in adaptive and intelligent computing; and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

He is a former CEO or interim CEO of four technology companies and one broadcasting station. His technology industry experience also includes twenty years as a venture capital fund principal, and an early career as an industrial designer and biomedical engineer. While a biomedical engineer and Commissioned Officer in the U.S. Public Health Service at the National Institutes of Health, he and a heart surgeon colleague designed an implantable left ventricular heart assist pump, and co-led the team that tested the device through twenty-nine calf implant surgeries, and published several papers on their work. Selected as a White House Fellow in 1970, he remained in Washington after his fellowship year to join the start-up leadership team of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Mr. Turner's public and community service has included chairing the boards of two national organizations - the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting -- as well as the Reed Union School District in Marin County during a period of major reform, and KQED, Inc., San Francisco's public broadcasting station. PBS, and the Museum of Radio and Television in New York are among his other non-profit boards. He has served on twenty-two public or private companies active in software, electronics, biotechnology, computer, telecommunication, consumer product, solar power and education markets.

Mr. Turner holds a Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Master's Degree in Product Design from Stanford University, and a Master's Degree in Business Administration from Harvard University.

Follow Edutopia

  • facebook icon
  • twitter icon
  • instagram icon
  • pinterest icon
  • youtube icon
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use

George Lucas Educational Foundation

Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.
Edutopia® and Lucas Education Research™ are trademarks or registered trademarks of the George Lucas Educational Foundation in the U.S. and other countries.