Eric Schmidt is an accomplished technologist, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He served as Google’s chief executive officer and chairman from 2001–11 where he pioneered the company’s transformation from a Silicon Valley startup to a global leader in technology. Eric oversaw the company’s technical and business strategies alongside founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page. Under his leadership, Google dramatically scaled its infrastructure and diversified its product offerings while maintaining a strong culture of innovation.
From 2018–20, Eric served as the technical advisor to Alphabet, the holding company of Google, advising its leaders on technology, business, and policy issues. He was also the executive chairman of Alphabet from 2015-2018 and remained as the chairman of Google until 2015.
Prior to joining Google, Eric was chairman and CEO of Novell, a software as a service company. He previously spent 14 years at Sun Microsystems, Inc., starting his career as a manager and rising to become their chief technology officer. He also held technical positions at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), Bell Laboratories, and Zilog.
Eric has been honored with numerous accolades and supports a variety of esteemed organizations. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2006 and inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences as a fellow in 2007. He was on the Board of Trustees at Carnegie Mellon University from 2004 to 2006, and at Princeton University from 2007 to 2010. Additionally, since 2008, he has served as a trustee of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, and after a 12-year tenure was named an emeritus board member in 2020. Eric was also a member of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science from 2009 to 2017. He currently serves as chair of the Board of Trustees of The Broad Institute and is on the board of The Mayo Clinic, as well as Director of Science for America. Since 2022, Eric has served as the chairman of the Board of Directors for Sandbox AQ.
