Jonathan D. Klein
Jonathan D. Klein was the CEO of Getty Images, a company he co-founded in March 1995. After more than 20 years at the helm, in October 2015, Jonathan stepped up to the role of Co-Founder and Chairman. He is a leader in the fields of global health, education and international press freedom and the recipient of numerous media, philanthropic and corporate honors.
Jonathan’s strategic vision and operational execution led Getty Images’ growth from a small analog image collection with transparencies, film laboratories and print catalogs in 1995, to a multi-award winning, billion-dollar, global e-commerce business. Through his principled leadership, Jonathan established a culture at Getty Images that embraces disruption and change. He has driven the most significant business and technology innovations in photography and video, including digitization, e-commerce, new business models, crowd-sourced imagery, keyword and image search technologies, visual trend expertise and groundbreaking partnerships. Starting as a pure stock photography business, Jonathan drove Getty Images’ launch into news, sports and entertainment imagery, as well as video, digital asset management, rights services and assignment photography.
Jonathan is the recipient of the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria’s Business Excellence for Innovation award. Under his stewardship, Getty Images received the first International Center of Photography (ICP) Trustees Award, for the company’s commitment to the field of photography, through technology and philanthropy, and dedication to the power of photography to create change. ICP recognized Getty Images again in 2015 for the creation of the Getty Images Lean In collection and its impact on how women are portrayed in media and advertising.
Jonathan is active in a number of different philanthropic areas and serves on the boards of directors of the Committee to Protect Journalists and Grassroot Soccer; he is also Chairman of the board of Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and President of the board of trustees of Groton School. Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, Jonathan has spent much of his life in England and received a master’s degree in law from the University of Cambridge. He moved to the United States four years after co-founding Getty Images to live in Seattle. Jonathan and his family have been New York City residents since 2007.