Neil Clark Warren facts for kids

Neil Clark Warren (born September 18, 1934) is an American clinical psychologist and professor. He is best known as the co-founder of the online relationship websites eHarmony and Compatible Partners. He helped create these sites to help people find good matches for lasting relationships.

In 1995, Warren and his son-in-law, Greg Forgatch, started a company called Neil Clark Warren & Associates. This company offered workshops and learning tools based on Warren's books. In early 2000, they launched eHarmony. This online service helps people find compatible partners. It quickly became popular, gaining two million users in its first three years. Warren retired in 2007 but returned as the chief executive of eHarmony in July 2012.

Early Life and Education

Neil Clark Warren was born and grew up near Des Moines, Iowa. From a young age, he was interested in how well people get along. His parents were married for seventy years. However, Warren noticed they had trouble talking to each other. He felt they were not a very good match, even though they had a long marriage.

Warren went to Pepperdine University and earned his first degree in 1956. He then received a master's degree in divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1959. Later, he earned his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Chicago in 1967.

His Work and eHarmony

As a Psychologist

Neil Clark Warren was once a dean and psychologist at the Graduate School of Psychology at Fuller Theological Seminary. During those years, he also worked as a private clinical psychologist. For 35 years, Warren focused on helping people with their relationships. He studied why many marriages ended. Through this work, he became very interested in helping single people find strong, lasting relationships.

Author and Business Leader

Warren has written many books about finding the right partner for marriage. His first book on this topic was published in 1975. By 2013, he had written ten books. Some of his well-known titles include Learning to Live with the Love of Your Life and Date or Soul Mate?: How to Know If Someone Is Worth Pursuing in Two Dates or Less.

In 1995, Warren and his son-in-law, Greg Forgatch, started Neil Clark Warren & Associates. This company provided workshops and tools based on Warren's book, Finding the Love of Your Life. Building on his ideas about strong marriages, Warren and Forgatch launched eHarmony in 2000. It was an online service designed to match single people for marriage. They used what they called "29 dimensions of compatibility" to help people find good matches.

Warren was the chairman of eHarmony's board of directors from the start. In 2007, he retired and moved to Kennebunkport, Maine, with his wife Marylyn. However, he returned to eHarmony as CEO in 2012. He explained in an interview that he believed eHarmony could do much more than just match people for marriage.

How His Beliefs Shaped His Business

Neil Clark Warren's personal beliefs have had a big impact on his work. Sometimes, these beliefs caused challenges as he tried to grow his business. He has said that he wants to serve people from all backgrounds around the world.

Early on, eHarmony did not offer matches for same-sex couples. Warren explained in 2004 that he did not want to upset certain cities or groups. However, as the company grew, Warren wanted eHarmony to reach a wider audience.

Much of eHarmony's early success came from being promoted on a daily radio show called Focus on the Family. As eHarmony expanded and aimed for a larger market, Warren decided to change his relationship with Focus on the Family and its founder, James Dobson. In 2005, Warren stopped appearing on Dobson's radio show. He also bought back the rights to three of his books that Focus on the Family had published. Warren explained that he wanted eHarmony to reach "people of all spiritual orientations, all political philosophies, all racial backgrounds."

See also

• Helen Fisher
• Pepper Schwartz