Lou August was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, receiving his bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan and MBA from Loyola University. From 1983 to 2000, he was the founder and president of a successful West Coast high-tech firm with offices in Los Angeles, Portland, and Seattle.  He witnessed the unfolding of the digital divide first-hand, including its devastating inequity for the poor and people of color, and decided to do something about it.  

From 1992 to 2009, he built and operated an award-winning computer camp on Mount Rainier in Washington State for at-risk youth. He used profits from his company to combine wilderness leadership with project-based learning in technology.  This became the Wilderness Technology Alliance (WTA) non-profit organization in 2000.  From 2007 to 2016, Lou served as the Global Leader of Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D) at Save the Children and World Vision, creating and delivering technology solutions that empowered extremely marginalized populations on five continents. 

In 2016 Lou returned to the WTA to become its Executive Director, together with 14 exceptional full-time employees, bringing digital equity to the DMV and worldwide.