Home Page of Kenneth Lafferty Hess

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I play a variety of roles in life:  engineer, entrepreneur, educator, philanthropist, and author. And, no matter which of those hats I'm wearing it's my nature to create and build something new, be it an original product, solution, or organization.

• During the 1980's I founded Banner Blue Software to develop a specialized business graphics program, Org Plus, which is still actively upgraded and sold today.
• During the 1990's I popularized computer genealogy by designing, developing, and selling the Family Tree Maker product line which has sold millions of copies and fostered the creation of some of the most popular sites on the Web.
• Today I'm applying my skills in an effort to improve science education with the non-profit organization I founded, Science Buddies.

ootstrap

• Bootstrap: Lessons Learned Building a Successful Company from Scratch
  Learn all about my book and how to order it.

cience Buddies

• Science Buddies
  I founded this 501(c)3 nonprofit organization when I saw how much my daughter learned from her participation in science fairs. Science Buddies has created an innovative library of resources designed to enrich science education by encouraging greater participation in science fairs and providing the means to improve project quality.

tanford Continuing Studies Program

• The MicroMBA: Entrepreneurial Business Management (BUS 13)
  Ken was the instructor of this class taught during May-June 1998.

bout Ken and His Family

• Ken's Resume



• Ken's Bio



• Eccentricities at MIT,  Intel ISEF Blog,  Intel Science Talent Search Blog
  Ken's daughter Amber has written these three blogs. She also maintains this website about life at MIT: Smoots: Student Life at MIT. Soon her article will appear in the Journal of Chemical Education: Digitally-Enhanced Thin-Layer Chromatography: An Inexpensive, New Technique for Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis



• Quilt Art
  Paintings by Ken's wife, Connie Irish-Hess. This art is inspired by traditional American quilt patterns.



• World War II Memoirs of Richard Morton Hess
  Ken's father talks about his experiences as a paratrooper during WWII.



• Home Page of Phyllis Lafferty Hess
  The home page of Ken's mother focuses on the family's genealogy.



• 
  Family Tree Maker Online, originally the home page of Banner Blue Software, a company Ken founded. Family Tree Maker is now owned by MyFamily.com, Inc. Ken hasn't had anything to do with the company in quite a number of years.

ssays

• Remarks to Software Forum Dinner Meeting, February 19, 1997
  Ken's thoughts on building a company including a checklist of questions to ask before starting, new product criteria, and things he'd do differently the second time around. Ken also discussed Banner Blue's award winning web site.



• The Growth of Automotive Transportation
  A case study of the growth of automotive transportation provides an enlightening picture of how technological, social, and economic factors interplay to change the environment in which we live. This essay argues that temporary market saturation of the automobile contributed to the severity of the Great Depression.

stronomy

• Astronomical Photos. New Hale-Bopp and Shuttle photos.



• Ken's Eyepiece Corner
  Everything you wanted to know about telescope eyepieces.

ublic Service

• Hess Family Foundation Home Page
  

• Uncle Sam's Budget Balancer Home Page
  Ken's Home Page for Uncle Sam's Budget Balancer and Eureka! California's Budget Balancer. These programs for DOS or Windows computers empower you to balance the government budget.

Last updated December 13, 2006

Please send comments to:   inquire at KLHess.com