Peter Nicholson is co-founder of Baobabooks, a fast-growing interactive website used across 6 continents where young writers and illustrators can collaborate together across cultures and geographies to publish their work. This platform resulted from his frustration with how his children engaged with their digital devices and his desire to create something where time on line could result in a more positive outcome. Children and teenagers from more than 20 countries now use this platform to write, illustrate and publish their own books while teachers use it to manage the administrative aspects of classwork and unleash their creativity to better engage their students.
After seeing how advanced ageing impacted his Father’s life and care, Peter partnered with the International Council of Nurses to create an initiative to train caregivers – community health workers, family members, and paid care workers to help older adults to age with dignity. This initiative is focused on supporting the health, independence and well-being of older people while lowering the burden on healthcare budgets.
Peter also created To Know Me, a business developing and commercializing digital tools that help healthcare systems deliver on the promise of person-centered care and address the wide-spread and debilitating issues of loneliness and social isolation.
After years of experiencing the trails and tribulations of life as an expat, he started Going Home, a Swiss-based not-for-profit organization that matches people willing to donate frequent flier miles with those in need.
A wine enthusiast, Peter co-founded Oenologic to address the need for an accredited on-line resource that consumers and wine professionals can use to learn about wine in a structured environment with progressive levels of knowledge achievement.
Peter’s successful career in the healthcare industry has spanned 25 years during which he has worked as a business development professional for companies such as Dermavant, Galderma, Allergan, J&J, Amgen and Smith & Nephew. He serves as a strategy consultant to several well-known clients. He co-founded Blue Heron Biotechnology, a high-throughput automated gene synthesis company that partnered with the life science industry to advance genomics programs.
He volunteers as a mentor and coach in the Cartier Women’s Initiative and MassChallenge Switzerland. Peter has a Bachelors degree from the University of California at Berkeley and a Masters degree from the University of California at Los Angeles. He has a pending Fellowship (timing impacted by COVID) at Stanford University’s Distinguished Careers Institute.
A California native, Peter has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, San Diego and Seattle in the U.S.; Paris, France; Georgetown, the Cayman Islands; and Lausanne, Switzerland. An avid sailor and diver and a reasonable skier, he currently splits his time between Santa Barbara, California and Chardonne, Switzerland.
