Eric Schmidt is an accomplished technologist, entrepreneur and philanthropist. He served as Google’s Chief Executive Officer and Chairman from 2001 to 2011, where he pioneered Google’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.
Additionally, from 2018 to 2020, 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 to 2018 and remained as the Chairman of Google until 2015.
Prior to joining Google, Eric was the Chairman and CEO of Novell, a software and services company. Previously, he 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, and on the Board of Visitors at UC Berkeley from 2014 to 2021. Eric served on the Board of Directors at Apple from 2006 to 2009. He also served as a member of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology from 2009 to 2017. Since 2008, Eric has served as a trustee of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey and, following a 12-year tenure, was named an emeritus board member in 2020. He is currently Chairman of The Broad Institute Board of Directors and is a member of the Mayo Clinic Board of Trustees and the Cornell Tech Board of Overseers.
Eric became the Chairman of the Department of Defense’s Innovation Board in 2016 and held the position for four years, for which he was awarded the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service in January of 2017 by Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter. He was also a member of NASA’s National Space Council User Advisory Group for two years, which was chaired by the Vice President. He is currently Chairman of the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence.
Eric also contributes much of his time to various programs at MIT. He is an MIT Visiting Innovation Fellow, member of the Advisory Board for MIT IQ, member of the MIT Commission on the Work of the Future, member of the MIT CEO Advisory Board, and member of the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing Advisory Council.
An accomplished author, Eric and Jared Cohen co-authored New York Times bestselling book, The New Digital Age: Transforming Nations, Businesses, and Our Lives in 2013. In 2014, Eric published his second New York Times bestseller, How Google Works, which he and Jonathan Rosenberg co-authored with Alan Eagle. In 2019, Eric published his third New York Times bestseller, Trillion Dollar Coach: The Leadership Playbook of Silicon Valley’s Bill Campbell, which he co-authored with Jonathan Rosenberg and Alan Eagle.
Inspired to continue to give back, Eric co-founded Schmidt Futures in 2017, which bets early on exceptional people making the world better, applying science and technology thoughtfully and bringing people together across fields. In 2019, he and his wife Wendy announced a new $1 billion philanthropic commitment to identify and support talent across disciplines and around the globe to serve others and help address the world’s most pressing issues. As part of this effort, Schmidt Futures, in partnership with the Rhodes Trust, launched its flagship initiative Rise, which aims to increase opportunity for extraordinary young people worldwide and empower them to serve their communities. In 2020, Eric and Schmidt Futures were selected by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to lead the state’s 16-member, blue-ribbon commission to reimagine a stronger and more resilient New York in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in the first-ever mandate for universal, affordable connectivity in the United States.
In August 2020, Eric launched a podcast, “Reimagine with Eric Schmidt,” a series of conversations with leaders in government, business, science and technology to explore how society can solve current challenges and build a brighter future after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Eric holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Princeton University and a master’s degree and Ph.D. in computer science from the University of California, Berkeley.
