Commissioner Biographies
Eric Schmidt
Commission Chair, Former CEO and Executive Chairman of Google and founder of Schmidt Futures
Toyin Ajayi
Chief Health Officer & Co-founder, Cityblock Health
Elizabeth Alexander
President, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
Plinio Ayala
President/CEO, Per Scholas
Steven Koonin
University Professor, New York University
Maurie McInnis
President, SUNY Stony Brook
Sid Mukherjee
Physician/Author, Assistant Professor at Columbia
Richard Parsons
Chair, Rockefeller Foundation
Charles Phillips
Chair/Former CEO, Infor
Martha Pollack
President, Cornell University
Dennis Rivera
Former Chair, SEIU healthcare
Ginni Rometty
Executive Chair, IBM
Jane Rosenthal
Co-founder/CEO/Executive Chair, Tribeca Film Festival
Satish K. Tripathi
President, SUNY Buffalo
Hamdi Ulukaya
Founder/Chairman/CEO, Chobani
Darren Walker
President, Ford Foundation
About Schmidt Futures
Schmidt Futures is a philanthropic initiative, co-founded by Eric and Wendy Schmidt, that finds exceptional people and helps them do more for others together.
As a venture facility for public benefit, Schmidt Futures aims to create public value from private philanthropy through risk transfer, often investing in people without a track record or with experimental ideas.
In its working method, Schmidt Futures brings talent together into networks to solve the hardest problems; challenges and competes ideas to drive higher returns for society; builds partnerships across sectors; and equips promising ideas to scale through the thoughtful use of modern tools from science and technology.
News & Updates
January 12, 2020: Governor Cuomo Announces Proposal to Enact a First-In-The-Nation Guarantee of Affordable Internet for Low-Income Families as Part of the 2021 State of the State
January 12, 2020: Governor Cuomo Announces Proposal to Create a Pathways Pledge for New York State Employers as Part of 2021 State of the State
January 10, 2020: Governor Cuomo Announces Proposal to Expand Access to Telehealth for All as Part of 2021 State of the State
August 3, 2020: Eric Schmidt: Build back a better New York as state begins to reopen
May 24, 2020: Amid Ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, Governor Cuomo Announces Reimagine NYS Blue Ribbon Commission Members