Eric Schmidt
Eric Schmidt is a renowned technologist, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. Schmidt is best known as the former CEO and Chairman of Google, where he pioneered Google's transformation from a Silicon Valley startup to a global leader in technology. Under his leadership, Google dramatically scaled its infrastructure and diversified its product offerings while maintaining a strong culture of innovation. He also served as the Technical Advisor to Alphabet, the holding company of Google, advising its leaders on technology, business and policy issues. Throughout his career, he has been honored with numerous accolades and supports a variety of esteemed organizations. Schmidt is the Founding Partner and General Partner at Innovation Endeavors, an early-stage venture capital firm that has backed companies such as Uber, SoFi, Formlabs, and more.
Eric Schmidt Professional Experience / Academic History
Professional Experience
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Founding Partner
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Executive Chairman and Technical Advisor
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CEO and Chairman
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Chief Technology Officer
Academic History
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Ph.D., Computer Science
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M.S., Computer Science
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B.S., Electrical Engineering
Schmidt joined Google in 2001 and helped grow the company from a Silicon Valley startup to a global leader in technology alongside founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page.
He oversaw the company's technical and business strategies, dramatically scaled its infrastructure, and diversified its product offerings.
He served as Google's Executive Chairman and Technical Advisor. He was also the Executive Chairman of Alphabet from 2015 to 2018 and remained as the Chairman of Google until 2015.
EARLY TECH CAREER
Prior to joining Google, he was the Chairman and CEO of Novell and Chief Technology Officer at Sun Microsystems.
He served on the research staff at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, Bell Laboratories and Zilog.
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
Trustee, Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton University
Board Member, The Broad Institute
Board of Trustee, Mayo Clinic
Board of Overseer, Cornell Tech
Commissioner, National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology
Chairman, National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence.
RECOGNITIONS
2017 Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service
PHILANTHROPY
Eric co-founded Schmidt Futures which bets early on exceptional people making the world better.
He founded the Special Competitive Studies Project in 2021, a non-profit initiative focused on strengthening America’s long-term AI and technological competitiveness in national security, the economy, and society.
In 2024, Eric and his wife Wendy co-founded Schmidt Sciences, a philanthropic venture to fund unconventional areas of exploration in science and tech.
The Schmidt Family Foundation focuses on climate change, including support of ocean and marine life studies at sea, as well as education.
He and his wife declared a new $1B philanthropic commitment to identify and support talent across disciplines and around the globe.
MEDIA & PUBLICATIONS
Schmidt has been featured and quoted in various financial media outlets and publications, including Business Insider, Bloomberg, Forbes, CNBC, BBC, Wired, Fortune, Time, The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, The Economic Times, Yahoo! Finance, and more.
He co-wrote The New York Times bestselling book, The New Digital Age: Transforming Nations, Businesses, and Our Lives in 2013.
In 2014, he published his second New York Times bestseller, How Google Works, which he and Jonathan Rosenberg co-authored with Alan Eagle.
In 2019, he published his third New York Times bestseller, Trillion Dollar Coach: The Leadership Playbook of Silicon Valley’s Bill Campbell, co-authored with Jonathan Rosenberg and Alan Eagle.
In 2021, he wrote the WSJ-best selling book The Age of AI: And Our Human Future with Dr. Henry Kissinger and Professor Daniel Huttenlocher.