After his graduation from Harvard Business School, Draper worked as a steel salesman at Chicago's
Inland Steel Company from 1954 to 1959.
Early venture capital In 1959, Draper left Chicago to work as an associate at his father's newly formed firm, Draper, Gaither & Anderson, the first
venture capital company on the West Coast. In 1962, Draper left Draper, Gaither & Anderson to co-found the venture capital firm Draper & Johnson Investment Company with his good friend Pitch Johnson, whom he had met while working at Inland Steel. In 1965, Draper founded
Sutter Hill Ventures, which to this day remains one of the top venture capital firms in the country. During his twenty years as the senior partner of Sutter Hill, Draper helped to organize and finance several hundred high-technology manufacturing companies. In 1986, he became the head of the world's largest source of multilateral development grant assistance, the United Nations Development Programme, and was instrumental in the leadership of several global initiatives, such as the international Education for All movement (beginning formally with the 1990 Conference in Jomtien, Thailand), the 1995 Beijing Women's' Conference, and the 1995 Social Summit in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Public service Draper has played an international leadership role in expanding the world economy and addressing the global
wealth gap. He served from 1981 to 1986 as president and Chairman of the
Export–Import Bank of the United States and was appointed to this position by President
Ronald Reagan. In this post, Draper assumed a leadership role in U.S. efforts to sustain world trade in the face of major liquidity problems among the developing countries. In 1986, he became the head of the world's largest source of multilateral development grant assistance, the
United Nations Development Programme. As the second highest ranking individual in the
United Nations, Draper oversaw nearly 10,000 international aid projects. During his time at the UN and the Export-Import Bank, Draper traveled to 101 developing countries and met with over 50 heads of state. Under Draper, "the agency's programs grew in value from $890 million in 1985 to $1.5 billion in 1992."
Return to venture capital In 1994, Draper and Robin Richards Donohoe founded Draper International, the first U.S. venture capital fund to focus on investing in private companies with operations in India. In 2002, he co-founded Draper Richards LP, a venture capital fund that invests in early-stage technology companies in the U.S., and he also founded Draper Investment Company, which concentrates on seed investments in Europe and Asia.
Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation In 2002, along with Robin Richards Donohoe, Draper co-founded the Draper Richards Foundation.
Robert Steven Kaplan, formerly vice-chairman of Goldman Sachs and the thirteenth president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, joined as co-chair in 2010. In 2006, Draper donated $1 million, in honor of Donohoe, to the
Stanford Graduate School of Business to support the school's
Stanford Social Innovation Review. The Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation is a global
venture philanthropy firm that supports early-stage, high impact social enterprises. The current DRK portfolio includes organizations working both domestically in the United States and internationally helping to provide critical access to healthcare, education, legal resources, economic empowerment, food security, social justice, water and sanitation, transparency and accountability, and shelter.
Community service As a civic leader, Draper has been involved in many community service programs. He is currently on the boards of The Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, Freeman Spogli Institute of International Studies at
Stanford University, and the
Harvard Business School California Research Center Advisory Board. He is a member of the
Council on Foreign Relations and the President's Council on International Activities at
Yale University. Draper formerly served as the Chairman of the World Affairs Council of Northern California, Chairman of the Institute of International Education, as a Trustee of Yale University and as Chairman of the
American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco; he was a former Board member of
Population Action International, the United Nations Association of the United States of America, Hoover Institution, Atlantic Council, George Bush Library Foundation, the Advisory Council of the
Stanford Graduate School of Business, and the World Rehabilitation Fund in New York. ==Personal life==