Eric Schmidt is an American software engineer and business executive who previously served as the executive chairman of Alphabet Inc.—the holding company created to oversee Google and its affiliated businesses. Before being appointed executive chairman of Alphabet, Schmidt served as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Google from 2001 to 2011. Under his leadership, the company significantly expanded and diversified its product range while fostering a culture of innovation. Born to well-educated and ambitious parents, Schmidt was encouraged to excel from a young age. Intelligent, curious, and determined, he thrived not only in academics but also in sports and was a long-distance runner in high school. Initially aspiring to be an architect, he enrolled at Princeton University but soon realized he was more interested in electrical engineering and changed his major. He later pursued further education at the University of California, Berkeley, where he earned both his master’s degree and Ph.D. in computer science. Schmidt worked at several companies, including Sun Microsystems, Novell, and Bell Labs, before joining Google in 2001 as CEO. He has also served on the boards of trustees for both Carnegie Mellon University and Princeton University.