Peter Barris is chairman of Venture Philanthropy Partners and chairman of the Morino Institute.
Before retiring from private industry in 1992, Mario enjoyed a 30-year career in information technology, where he co-founded and helped build a corporation that became a market leader and one of the industry’s then 10 largest firms in software and services. Since 1992 Mario has focused his efforts on philanthropic innovation to benefit children and families of working poor or poverty backgrounds.

In his philanthropic work, Mario founded the Morino Institute in 1994 to advance the vision that all children have the opportunity to grow into adults leading healthy, productive lives. In 2000, Mario co-founded Venture Philanthropy Partners (VPP) as an innovative investor in social change that concentrates investments of money, expertise, and contacts to improve the lives and boost the opportunities of children of low-income families in the National Capital Region. VPP adapts the relevant principles of venture and private equity investment firms and applies them for investing in the nonprofit sector to build strong, high-impact, lasting nonprofit institutions that generate high social returns for children, families, and communities. It also brings together and informs high net worth individuals and families as “philanthropic investors.” Mario believes that VPP’s work will influence sector change to ultimately help increase access to capital, talent, and other resources for nonprofit organizations demonstrating the greatest potential for improving the lives of children and families.

Today, Mario’s private sector work is exclusively through his affiliation with General Atlantic LLC, one of the leading global private equity firms investing in companies that provide information technology or use information technology to help drive growth. Mario has been affiliated with the firm for more than 20 years, now serves as a member of the firm’s Executive Advisory Board and sits on the boards of two of the firm’s portfolio companies, Ai Metrix and ObjectVideo.

Mario serves as a member of the board of trustees of The Cleveland Clinic Foundation and as an honorary trustee of The Brookings Institution. He is a special advisor to Echoing Green; serves on the PEACE X PEACE advisory council; is a member of the advisory board for the Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (CASE), The Fuqua School of Business, Duke University; and is a member of the Board of Governors of the Partnership for Public Service. He also informally advises scores of organizations and individuals across a range of areas.

Mario lives in greater Cleveland, Ohio, with his wife and three children, and the primary focus of his work continues to be in the National Capital Region.