A native of Delaware, Thomas F. Stephenson served as the United States Ambassador to Portugal from November 21, 2007, until June 26, 2009. Stephenson attended Harvard College, where he received an AB in economics. He received his MBA from Harvard Business School and a JD from Boston College Law School.

 

Stephenson worked as a securities analyst at Fidelity Management Company and helped found Fidelity Ventures. In 1977, he became president of Fidelity Ventures, running the operation until he left in 1987 to join Sequoia Capital. Stephenson was a partner at Sequoia Capital, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm, for 19 years.

 

Stephenson served on dozens of private and public corporate boards in his 38 years as a venture capitalist. He was a member of the executive committee of the board of overseers of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, the board of advisors of the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, the board of directors of Conservation International, the Wilson Center Council, and as a Corporate Fund Vice Chairman of the Kennedy Center.

 

Stephenson donated $629,651 to various Republican candidates and causes, including George W. Bush, Kay Bailey Hutchison, Matt Fong, Randy Hoffman, Michael Huffington, Mitt Romney, Norm Coleman, Rick Santorum, Bill Frist and the Republican National Committee, among others.