Eric Schmidt

Former CEO of Google and current Executive Chairman of global holding company Alphabet, Eric Schmidt is one of the most successful businessmen on the planet. Starting out as a software engineer, Eric began his career carrying out technical roles before progressing into senior management roles within some of the biggest global companies.

Eric’s incredible knowledge of computer systems was clear right at the beginning of his career when, whilst interning during the summer at Bells Labs, he completely rewrote a software system called Lex. In 1983 he joined Sun Microsystems as a software manager and, by the time he left the company 14 years later, he was president of the entire company.

In 1997 he then moved on to software company Novell as their new CEO where he spent four years before his most successful career move came. In 2001 Eric went for an interview with search engine giant Google and instantly impressed founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. He was swiftly appointed CEO and oversaw most of the day to day tasks within the business.

Eric played a huge role in Googles’ growth over the years and in 2007 was named as one of the most important people on the internet. In 2006 he also joined Apple as one of their board of directors, showing how he is even highly regarded amongst competitors. In 2009 he left his role with Apple due to a conflict of interest. In 2011 he stepped down as Google CEO after an extremely successful decade in the role but still holds a senior position at the company.

In 2015 Google created Alphabet Incorporated a company which specialises in technology, life sciences, investment capital, and research. Eric was named CEO of Alphabet. Having spent over three decades working in some of the biggest companies worldwide, Eric is the perfect person to provide after-dinner speaking for any corporate functions.

Eric also has numerous charitable endeavours. Alongside his wife Wendy, he set up the Schmidt Family Foundation which raises money to try and combat climate change. They both also set up the Schmidt Transformative Technology Fund in 2009. The fund focuses on research in natural sciences and engineering.