Patrick Paul Gelsinger

Chief Executive Officer

Pat Gelsinger is the CEO of Intel Corporation and serves on its board of directors. He is also the chairman of the board at Gloo, a personal growth platform, and serves as the chairman of the board at Transforming the Bay with Christ, a holistic gospel movement based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

In 1979, Gelsinger joined Intel and held positions such as quality-control technician, senior vice president and general manager in the digital enterprise group. In 2000, he was the first-ever appointed chief technology officer, a post he held for five years. He worked in the company until 2009 – making him a 30-year veteran. That same year, he resigned and joined EMC as the president and COO of three years. In 2012, Gelsinger was appointed as VMWare’s CEO, where he served for eight years. And, it was in February 2021 that he returned to Intel.

In 2013, Gelsinger co-founded the Transforming Bay with Christ (TBC), a movement that involves business people, venture capitalists, and non-profit leaders and pastors who aim to share the Christian faith in the Bay Area. Besides authoring books – such as “The Juggling Act: Bringing Balance to Your Faith, Family and Work” and the co-author of “Programming the 80386” – one of his accomplishments is being the architect of the original Intel 80486 CPU processor, which he designed in his early stint at Intel.

Gelsinger earned his master’s degree from Standford University and a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Santa Clara University. In 2003, he earned his honorary doctor of letters from William Jessup University. He is a committed Christian and is married to Linda, with whom he shares four children.

Pat Gelsinger, VMware - Why We Recognized Him:

From a humble background where he grew up on a family farm, Gelsinger stumbled into the tech field after trying out a trade-school test. He then climbed the ranks to become a technical golden boy, and one of Intel’s first-ever Chief Technology officers. He eventually took over the company and doubled the size of VMware.

But even more importantly than his success is that he has the love and respect of not only those in his company but techies in general, in part because of his support of social causes but also his support and promotion of programs to help people find their “inner techie,” so to speak.

With 20% of his company already working from home before the COVID-19 crisis, he predicts that number will rise to as high as 60%, and he sees that as a good thing. “Sometimes it takes a decade to make a week of progress. Sometimes a week gives you a decade of progress,” says Gelsinger. “All of a sudden, education, health care, work from home, are making huge steps forward.”