Eric Schmidt of Novell. He presided over a period of decline at Novell where its IPX protocol was being replaced by open TCP/IP products, while at the same time Microsoft was shipping free TCP/IP stacks in Windows 95, making Novell much less profitable. In 2001, he departed after the acquisition of Cambridge Technology Partners. Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin interviewed Schmidt. Impressed by him, they recruited Schmidt to run their company in 2001 under the guidance of venture capitalists John Doerr and Michael Moritz. In March 2001, Schmidt joined Google's board of directors as chairman, and became the company's CEO
Tom Coughlin (Walmart executive) January 2001, Coughlin was elected to the board of directors for ChoicePoint, a publicly traded data aggregation firm. That same year, he was elected to the Walmart board of directors. In August 2002, he was also given the title of CEO for Sam's Club USA. The following April, he became executive vice president and vice chairman of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. On December 6, 2004, Walmart announced that Coughlin would retire effective January 24, 2005. When Coughlin's retirement was announced, Walmart praised Coughlin for his longtime success at the corporation. Walmart CEO Lee Scott said in a company-issued press release, "Tom