Min Zhu (朱敏; born 1948) is a Chinese American

businessman A businessperson, also referred to as a businessman or businesswoman, is an individual who has founded, owns, or holds shares in (including as an angel investor) a private-sector company. A businessperson undertakes activities (commercial ...

and

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

. He is the co-founder and former president and chief technical officer of WebEx.

Early life and education

Min Zhu was born in 1948 in Ningbo, China. In his twenties, Zhu was among a number of Chinese

intellectual An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and Human self-reflection, reflection about the nature of reality, especially the nature of society and proposed solutions for its normative problems. Coming from the wor ...

s compelled to work on a

farm A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used fo ...

for seven years as part of a government policy intended to reeducate the country's intelligentsia with

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

ideologies. At the age of 30, he studied at

Zhejiang University Zhejiang University (ZJU) is a public university, public research university in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education (China), Ministry of Education. The university is part of Project 211, Project 985, and D ...

, where he graduated with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines and mechanism (engineering), mechanisms that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and engineering mathematics, mathematics principl ...

. After the Chinese government eased restrictions on

emigration Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...

, Zhu moved to the United States, where he attended

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

scholarship A scholarship is a form of Student financial aid, financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, Multiculturalism, diversity and inclusion, athleti ...

and graduated with an M.S. in engineering economic systems.

Career

Zhu developed his technology expertise at the

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

Scientific Center in

Palo Alto Palo Alto ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a charter city in northwestern Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. Th ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. He was also the deputy to the chief technical officer of Price Waterhouse and the vice president of Expert Edge, a software design company. In 1991, Zhu co-founded Future Labs, one of the first companies to produce multi-point document collaboration software. Quarterdeck acquired Future Labs in 1996, and Zhu went on to co-found WebEx with Subrah Iyar. On May 13, 2005, Zhu resigned from WebEx and left the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. He continues to serve as a science and technology advisor to the

municipal government A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

of San Jose, a member of the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...

President's Board on Science and Innovation, a board director of the Hua Yuan Science and Technology Association and a partner at New Enterprise Associates. In September 2005, NEA announced plans to back Chinese venture firm Northern Light Venture Capital.

Personal life

Min Zhu is the father of Erin Zhu, CEO of OpenNote, and the father-in-law of her husband, the musician Blixa Bargeld.

References

External links

University of California President's Board on Science and Innovation listing

Neubauten Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zhu, Min Living people 1948 births Chinese computer scientists Chinese emigrants to the United States American technology company founders American chief technology officers Zhejiang Agricultural University alumni Stanford University alumni Stanford Sloan Fellows Businesspeople from Ningbo