Kenneth Hess

Ken successfully wears a lot of hats in his life: educator, entrepreneur, engineer, and author—not to mention amateur photographer and astronomer. And no matter which of those hats he's wearing it's his nature to create and build something new, be it an original product, solution, or organization. When he saw how much his daughter learned doing her own science projects, it was only a matter of time before he founded Science Buddies in an effort to create the same positive learning experience for students everywhere. Prior to turning toward education, Ken founded Banner Blue Software where during the 1990’s he popularized using the computer for family history research and created the modern family history industry by designing, developing, and selling the Family Tree Maker product line. Family Tree Maker has sold millions of copies and fostered the creation of some of the most popular sites on the Internet.