Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The institution was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools. In 1912, it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology and began granting four-year degrees. In 1967, it became Carnegie Mellon University through its merger with the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research, founded in 1913 by Andrew Mellon and Richard B. Mellon and formerly a part of the University of Pittsburgh.
Eric Emerson Schmidt is an American businessman and former computer engineer who served as the CEO of Google from 2001 to 2011 and as the company's executive chairman from 2011 to 2015. He also served as the executive chairman of parent company Alphabet Inc. from 2015 to 2017, and Technical Advisor at Alphabet from 2017 to 2020. In November 2024, he was 48th richest according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index with an estimated net worth of US$35.4 billion.
Vinod Khosla is an Indian-American billionaire businessman and venture capitalist. He is a co-founder of Sun Microsystems and the founder of Khosla Ventures. Khosla made his wealth from early venture capital investments in areas such as networking, software, and alternative energy technologies. He is considered one of the most successful and influential venture capitalists.
The Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy, also known as Heinz College, is the public policy and information college of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It consists of the School of Information Systems and Management and the School of Public Policy and Management. The college is named after CMU's former instructor and the later U.S. Senator John Heinz from Pennsylvania.
Mark Jonathan Pincus is an American Internet entrepreneur known as the founder of Zynga, a mobile social gaming company. Pincus also founded the startups Freeloader, Inc., Tribe Networks, and Support.com. Pincus served as the CEO of Zynga until July 2013, then again from 2015 to 2016.
Tamara Mellon is a British fashion entrepreneur who co-founded the luxury footwear brand Jimmy Choo. She founded her namesake luxury footwear brand, Tamara Mellon, with co-founder and CEO Jill Layfield and Tania Spinelli, chief data officer, in 2016.
Carnegie Mellon Silicon Valley is a degree-granting branch campus of Carnegie Mellon University located in Mountain View, California. It was established in 2002 at the NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field.
Francisco D'Souza is an Indian-American entrepreneur and businessman, who is the former CEO and Vice Chairman of Cognizant — a Fortune 200 global professional services company – co-founded the NASDAQ-100 company in 1994. He succeeded Lakshmi Narayanan as the CEO in 2007 and in 2018 was appointed Vice Chairman, while continuing his role as the CEO till 1 April 2019.
Gerald Carl Meyers was an American industrialist, author, lecturer, and management consultant who was chairman and CEO of American Motors Corporation (AMC) from 1977 to 1982.
Marvell Technology, Inc. is an American company, headquartered in Santa Clara, California, which develops and produces semiconductors and related technology. Founded in 1995, the company had more than 6,500 employees as of 2024, with over 10,000 patents worldwide, and an annual revenue of $5.5 billion for fiscal 2024.
Carlos Watson is an American entrepreneur, journalist, and television host. A former contributor on MSNBC, he was the CEO of the media company Ozy Media, which he co-founded in 2013.
Scott Griffith was the chairman and chief executive officer of Zipcar, Inc. from February 2003 until his resignation on March 15, 2013, following the acquisition of Zipcar by Avis Budget Group. As of October 2020, Griffith is the CEO of Ford Autonomous Vehicles & Mobility Businesses at Ford Motor Company.
Sandra “Sandy” Carter is an American businesswoman, speaker and author. She was a general manager at IBM from 2013 to 2016, vice president at Amazon Web Services from 2017 to 2021 and is currently the chief operating officer at Unstoppable Domains.
Hercules Networks is a U.S.-based manufacturing and distributing company. Hercules Networks was founded in 2008, and is headquartered in New York City, New York. Hercules Networks also has an office in Miami, Florida.
WeedMaps is a tech company serving the cannabis industry, founded in 2008 by Justin Hartfield and Keith Hoerling.
Madhavi Vuppalapati is founder, CEO, and Chairperson of Prithvi Information Solutions (“Prithvi”). She is married and has one child and lives in Seattle, Washington. A graduate of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Madhavi holds a master's degree in Computational Mechanics. Madhavi founded the telecom and IT services multinational Prithvi in 1998, and together with her brother Satish Vuppalapati, took the company public in India 7 years later. She is the only female CEO amongst the top 50 Indian IT and telecom services companies.
Raymond J. Lane is an American business executive and strategist specializing in technology and finance. Lane is best known for assisting corporations with technology strategy, organizational development, team building, and sales and growth management.
Elon A. Ganor is an Israeli entrepreneur known for his role as one of the world's first VoIP pioneers. He served as chairman and CEO of VocalTec Ltd, the company behind the creation of "Internet Phone", the world's first commercial software product that enabled voice communication over the internet, known initially as "Internet Telephony" and later as VoIP.
Kyle Kazan is an American businessman who is the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Glass House Group. He is also a founder and chairman of Beach Front Property Management, Inc. and co-founder and managing member of Beach Front Properties, LLC. Kazan has also served as a special education teacher at LAUSD and a police officer at the Torrance Police Department.
