Benno C. Schmidt, Jr.
Vice Chairman
Benno joined Edison in 1992 to lead the initial three-year research and development phase that preceded the opening of the company’s first schools in 1995. He served as chief executive officer from 1992 to June 1998, president from 1992 to February 1997, and chief education officer from July 1998 through April 1999. From March 1997 until January 2007 Benno served as Edison's chairman. He is currently Edison's vice chairman.
Benno also chairs the Board of Trustees of the City University of New York, the largest urban public university in the world, and the third largest public university system in the United States with some 500,000 students. Additionally he chairs the Blue Ribbon Task Force on higher education of the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation. He also chairs the board of the non-profit Council for Aid to Education, a group that helps colleges and universities with accountability and academic planning.
Benno was the president of Yale University from 1986 to 1992, where he was known for his outspoken defense of freedom of expression and liberal education. During his presidency, Yale’s endowment grew from $1.7 billion to nearly $3 billion, the highest rate of growth among the major endowed private universities in this country. Benno presided over one of the largest building programs in Yale’s history, he fashioned a model partnership between the university and the city of New Haven, and he helped build a number of new interdisciplinary programs, especially in environmental sciences and policy and in international studies. Benno oversaw Yale College and 11 graduate and professional schools; approximately 2,000 faculty members; 7,000 staff members; some 11,000 students; and operating and capital budgets of approximately $900 million.
Before joining Yale, Benno was the dean of Columbia University Law School where, in 1973, he became, at age 29, one of the youngest tenured professors in Columbia’s history. He was named Harlan Fiske Stone Professor of Constitutional Law in 1982. Benno served as law clerk to Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren.