Stephen Leo Poizner (born January 4, 1957) is an American businessman, technology entrepreneur and former Republican California Insurance Commissioner and Gubernatorial candidate. Poizner also was an independent candidate in the 2018 California Insurance Commissioner election. Poizner has been a Silicon Valley high tech entrepreneur, founding and selling SnapTrack, Inc., Strategic Mapping, Inc, and EmpoweredU, and he is currently the founder and CEO of next generation GPS startup OneNav Inc. In 2001, following privately held SnapTrack's sale for $1 billion to Qualcomm, Poizner served a year as a White House Fellow in the National Security Council. Starting one week before the September 11, 2001 attacks, Poizner held the position of Director of Critical Infrastructure Protection, and was involved in developing Homeland Security programs relating to cybersecurity and emergency response communication protocols. Background and early life Poizner was born on January 4, 1957 in Corpus Christi, Texas. Poizner attended the University of Texas at Austin, where he earned his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering in 1978. He was also a member of the prestigious Friar Society and Tejas Club, as well as president of the Alpha Phi Omega fraternity. After graduating from UT, Poizner moved to California to attend the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he received his M.B.A. in 1980 and was named an Arjay Miller Scholar. Two years after Poizner graduated from Stanford, the national Jaycees organization sued the Palo Alto Jaycees chapter to expel the chapter for admitting female members. Working in coordination with other Jaycees chapters around the country, Poizner led the Palo Alto Jaycees in their legal defense of their efforts to admit women against the national organization's wishes, and the case eventually reached the U.S. Supreme Court. Poizner and the Palo Alto chapter, along with its fellow groups in other communities, won the suit. Poizner's wife was one of the first women admitted to the Palo Alto chapter. In addition to his academic degrees, Poizner has also earned a black belt in Shotokan, a traditional Japanese form of martial arts. Poizner and his wife, Carol, live in Los Gatos, California. They have one daughter, Rebecca. Entrepreneur and venture capitalist Poizner has started and run technology companies in Silicon Valley for over 35 years. Poizner served for several years as a management consultant with the Boston Consulting Group. In 1983, Poizner founded and served as chief executive officer of Strategic Mapping Inc., a software company that