E ric Schmidt is an American technology executive and investor who is best known for his long and transformative tenure as the CEO of Google. A computer scientist with a PhD from UC Berkeley, Schmidt had a distinguished career as a leader at technology companies like Sun Microsystems and Novell. In 2001, Google's young founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, famously hired him to provide "adult supervision" and professional management to their rapidly growing company.

As CEO from 2001 to 2011, and later as executive chairman of Google and its parent company, Alphabet, Schmidt oversaw a period of astronomical growth. He was instrumental in building Google's global business infrastructure, managing its 2004 IPO, and steering its expansion into a dominant global force in search, advertising, and a wide range of other technologies. Since stepping down from his roles at Alphabet, he has become an active investor, a prominent philanthropist, and a leading public voice on issues of technology, artificial intelligence, and national security.