William A. Porter

William A. Porter (1928–2015) was an American businessperson who, along with Bernard A. Newcomb, founded the first electronic trading platform, E-Trade.

After the success of E-Trade, Porter also co-founded International Securities Exchange with Marty Averbuch and became the first chairman of ISE on his 70th birthday in 1998. Porter was the former chief executive officer, board member, and chairman emeritus of E-Trade.

In 2000, CNN called Porter the "forefather of online trading".

Later in his life he donated money to businesses and nonprofits benefiting organic farming, recreation and community building on Kauai's North Shore.

Background Porter was born to William Asbury Porter Sr. (1899-1965) and Dorothy Louise Bullock Porter (1905-1980). He was raised in Boulder, Colorado, and spent his childhood summers as a cowboy on a Colorado ranch. and working nights as a crew dispatcher on the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad. According to a 2000 CNN interview, Porter attributes his self-confidence to his work as a young cowboy:

As a student at Adams State College, Porter and other students would take turns visiting and reading aloud to the aged and infirmed former governor of Colorado, Billy Adams.

Patents Porter holds 14 patents, having developed a number of electronic devices and processes—including for the aforementioned "first" shoulder-mounted-backpack broadcast color TV camera, the first infrared horizon sensor for satellite stabilization (prior to Sputnik), Having recently purchased an Apple II computer, Porter had the idea that a personal computer could be used to buy and sell stock. Having no means of accessing the necessary information with his modem, Porter convinced Newcomb to become his partner and together create a company that would enable any individual with a personal computer to trade stocks from their home—thereby disintermediating stock trades. Newcomb developed the programming which enabled the project to succeed.

According to Porter, the first actual trade, made on July 11, 1983, Together, the Porters had ten grandchildren. Joan Porter was the founder and president of the Stillheart Institute in Woodside, CA (2003-2014).

In 1999, Porter and his wife Joan gave $25 million to the MIT Sloan School of Management.

In 2007, the Porters gave 250,000 shares of E-Trade stock to Adams State College (worth approximately $5.8 million at the time), the largest gift in the school's history.