Google CEO Named Chairman of New America Board (Chronicle of Philanthropy)

Eric Schmidt, chairman and chief executive officer of Google, will become the chairman of the New America Foundation’s Board of Directors on June 1, the group announced. He plans to mark his new role by making an an unrestricted $1-million donation to the group.

Mr. Schmidt has served on the foundation’s board since its founding in 1999, but he has not been as actively involved in philanthropy as many of his fellow billionaires.

He says he was attracted to the group from the beginning because “they would try to do things that were unconventional. They were like Google, but before Google existed.”

Even when he disagreed with work produced by the scholars and journalist at the foundation, he says, he still found the work worthwhile and provocative. more