Eric Schmidt home of Blacksburg, Virginia. This came on the heels of Schmidt making a two million dollar donation to Virginia Tech's College of Engineering. Schmidt’s philanthropy is the result of his long standing friendship with Virginia Tech's former president Paul Torgersen. His donation funded the Paul and Dorothea Torgersen Dean’s Chair in Engineering. Eric Schmidt Eric Emerson Schmidt (born April 27, 1955) is an American businessman and software engineer. He is known for being the Executive Chairman of Google from 2001 to 2015 and Alphabet Inc. from 2015 to 2017. In 2017, "Forbes" ranked Schmidt as the 119th-richest person in the
Martin E. Franklin Franklin served as its CEO. He was the youngest CEO of a corporation listed on the NYSE. They sold the company to Essilor for US$300 million in 1996. Franklin attempted to acquire the Alltristra Corporation with Ian Ashken in 2000. When their bid failed, they became activist boards members. By 2001, Franklin became its CEO while Ashken became its chief financial officer. Meanwhile, the two men renamed it the Jarden Corporation. Franklin served as its chairman and chief executive from 2001 to 2011. Since 2011, he has served as its executive chairman. As executive chairman of Jarden, Franklin earned US$44