Lead21 was founded by a group of entrepreneurs, investors and senior executives from San Francisco and the surrounding Silicon Valley region. New Century Leadership Council (NCLC), as it was called at the time, launched the new organization at the home of Silicon Valley veteran Ellen Hancock, with former California Governor Pete Wilson as guest-of-honor. Additional early members and supporting leaders included E. Floyd Kvamme (chairman of the U.S. President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), Thomas Stephenson of Sequoia Capital fame, Gregory Slayton (a notable Bush-Cheney 2004 fundraiser and currently the Ambassador to Bermuda under George W. Bush's administration), and Duf Sundheim (chairman of the California Republican Party 2003-2007). According to news and press reports from the time, more than 150 people showed up for the opening event.