Paul Zane Pilzer is an economist, social entrepreneur, professor, public servant, and the New York Times bestselling author of 10 books and dozens of scholarly publications. Pilzer completed Lehigh University in three years and received his MBA from Wharton Business School in 15 months at age 22. He became Citibank’s youngest officer at age 22 and its youngest vice president at age 25. He was appointed a professor at New York University at age 24 where he taught for 21 years and was five times voted “best teacher.” He has started, and/or taken public, six companies in healthcare and K-12 education. In healthcare, he is the Founder of Extend Health (1999) and Zane Benefits (2006), suppliers of personalized health benefits to US employees in every state. Extend Health was acquired by Towers Watson in 2012 for $435 million. In education, he is the Founder of Zane Publishing (1989), The American Academy (2005), and Zane Prep (2011), three leading companies using technology to improve K-12 education worldwide. In public service, he was an appointed economic advisor in two US presidential administrations (1983-1989) and today advises CEOs and government officials worldwide.
A former commentator on National Public Radio and CNN, Pilzer has been profiled on the front page of The Wall Street Journal and on the cover of more than 100 magazines. He speaks live each year to approximately 200,000 people and more than 20 million copies of his speeches have been sold. He lives in Utah with his “best asset,” his wife Lisa and their four children, where they are all avid snowboarders, mountain bikers, and chess players.
