James Jannard

James Jannard is an American designer and businessman, and founder of Oakley, Inc., an eyewear and apparel company, and Red Digital Cinema Camera Company. 

• Jim Jannard founded sunglasses empire Oakley out of his car in 1975. His first product was a motorcycle grip that wicked sweat during long rides.
• It went public in 1995 and sold to Luxottica for $2.1 billion in cash in 2007.
• By then he was working on his next project, Red Digital, building high-resolution cameras used in movies like “Avatar” and “The Hobbit.”
• He launched Red Hydrogen One, a holographic smartphone, in Nov. 2018. It was plagued with issues, but he says the second version will be better.