INNOVATION

Brett Lockspeiser

Computer programmer

Tech pioneer Brett Lockspeiser is the creator of the “Sefaria” app, a free digital library of Jewish texts in English and Hebrew. A secular Jew with no formal Jewish education, Lockspeiser, 37, was the project’s chief engineer. Lockspeiser began his career in technology as a Product Manager at Google where he led the team that created the Google News Archives. After leaving Google, he worked with a number of startups and non-profits in the Bay Area. Lockspeiser has said that he founded Sefaria with partner Joshua Foer after realizing “how few of the basic possibilities for Torah and technology had yet been realized.” (Photo: Contemporary Jewish Museum / Screenshot)