Dr. Eric E. Schmidt, Ph.D.

Age: 52

WHAT HE DOES
Schmidt stands as one of the few successful third wheels in business history, working with Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin to lead the Mountain View, California, search firm. Schmidt has also served on the board of Apple since 2006, creating a kinship between the companies, which share a nemesis in Microsoft.

With decades of corporate experience, Schmidt brings a grown-up approach to the Page-and-Brin show. When the two know-it-alls are locked in heated argument, it’s up to Schmidt to lead them to agreement so that the company can present a united front to employees and Wall Street.

Schmidt, who beat out 50 other contenders for the position in 2001, pioneered the company’s 70-20-10 model: Google employees are expected to spend 70 percent of their time on the core search and advertising businesses, 20 percent on related activities, and 10 percent on new projects.

Schmidt also works hard — too hard, some say — to keep his life private. Most famously, he refused to grant CNet reporters access to Google representatives after the tech news site ran a story on potential privacy issues that revealed personal information about Schmidt found using basic Web searches.

WHERE HE’S FROM
Schmidt’s political views were deeply affected by the Vietnam War. In an interview with the Computerworld Honors Oral History Project in 2000, Schmidt said that he saw the government as something “that is going to take you to a war that is illegal and kill you.” Despite his years in tech-exec positions, he never shed this view, which helped land him at Google. The founders said they saw in Schmidt both a kindred spirit with an antiestablishment past and a clearheaded businessman with the acumen and discipline to lead the company from scrappy startup to profitable global entity.

A Washington, D.C., native, Schmidt was born to an economist father and a stay-at-home mother. He attended Princeton University, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering in 1976. He went on to earn a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of California at Berkeley in 1982.

During his 14-year tenure at Sun Microsystems, Schmidt worked his way up to chief technology officer and was instrumental in leading the development of Java. In 1997, Schmidt jumped ship to troubled software maker Novell, where he served as chief executive. Although he helped initiate a turnaround, the recovery was derailed when the tech bubble burst and the economy slowed.

WHERE HE’S GOING
Schmidt has arguably the hardest C.E.O. job in the country. He shares authority with two highly opinionated co-founders and is responsible for presenting their decisions to investors and employees. He manages a rapidly growing company and must maintain the controlled chaos that helps foster its creativity. And he has to do it all while fighting competitors for market share. It’s little wonder then that some speculate he joined Apple’s board not to form an alliance against Microsoft but to succeed Steve Jobs as the company’s chief executive. —Zubin Jelveh