Biography
Pontin was born on May 11, 1967 in London, and raised in Northern California. He was educated in England, at Harrow School and Oxford University.
From 1996 to 2002, Pontin was the editor of Red Herring, a business and technology publication that was popular during the dot-com boom. From 2002 to 2004, he was the editor of The Acumen Journal, a now-defunct magazine about the life sciences that he founded.
Pontin is the editor in chief and publisher of MIT Technology Review, an independent media company owned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that identifies new technologies and explains their impact. He was hired as the editor of Technology Review (as it was then known) in July 2004, and in August 2005 was named publisher. As publisher, he is responsible for all the media and business of MIT Technology Review, including its publications, digital platforms, and events. Pontin is engaged in what the Boston Globe has described as a "strategic overhaul" of Technology Review, whose goal is to make the venerable magazine (est. 1899) into a largely electronic publishing company. In October 2012, he renamed the organization MIT Technology Review and relaunched it as a "digital-first enterprise"; AdWeek commented that "Pontin and MIT Technology Review could set the standard for the transition to a digital future for legacy media."
Pontin has written for many national and international magazines and newspapers, including The New York Times, The Economist, The Financial Times, The Boston Globe, The Believer Magazine, and Wired, and is a frequent guest on broadcast, public, and cable television news.
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