Kevin Scott

Growing up in Gladys, Virginia, he later studied computer science at Lynchburg College and Wake Forest University before beginning doctoral work at the University of Virginia. He went on to build a career in technology, including engineering leadership roles at major Silicon Valley companies and later serving as Microsoft’s chief technology officer.

As an author, he is known for Reprogramming the American Dream: From Rural America to Silicon Valley—Making AI Serve Us All. In interviews about the book, he has described how his own path from rural Virginia into the tech industry shaped his belief that artificial intelligence should expand opportunity rather than concentrate it.

His writing is especially approachable because it blends memoir, technology, and public-interest questions. Instead of treating AI as an abstract topic, he tends to focus on education, economic mobility, and how people from many backgrounds can take part in the future being built.