# Eric Yuan

> Eric S. Yuan is the founder and CEO of Zoom Communications, an engineer who moved from China to Silicon Valley in 1997, helped build Webex, and founded Zoom in 2011. His career connects a personal interest in overcoming distance with a focus on customer experience, the responsibilities of a widely used communications platform, and a current push into AI-assisted work.

- **Role:** Founder & Chief Executive Officer at Zoom Communications
- **Organizations:** Zoom Communications, Webex, Cisco Systems, Intuit, ServiceNow, National Academy of Engineering
- **From:** Tai’an, China
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** Bachelor’s degree in applied mathematics; computer applications minor, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Master’s degree in engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Stanford Executive Program (executive education), Stanford University
- **Known for:** Founded Zoom in 2011 and led its 2019 public listing., TIME’s 2020 Businessperson of the Year and a member of the 2020 TIME100., Carnegie Corporation 2020 Great Immigrants honoree.

## Career timeline

- **1995** — Heard Bill Gates speak while attending a training program in Japan; became interested in pursuing the internet opportunity in Silicon Valley.
- **1997** — Moved to the United States after eight visa rejections and joined Webex as an engineer.
- **2007** — Became a corporate vice president of engineering at Cisco following its acquisition of Webex; became a naturalized U.S. citizen.
- **2011** — Left Cisco and founded Zoom.
- **2019** — Led Zoom through its April 18 Nasdaq IPO.
- **2020** — Announced a 90-day focus on security and privacy; named TIME Businessperson of the Year and a TIME100 honoree.
- **2023** — Announced approximately 1,300 job cuts and a 98% reduction in his fiscal 2024 base salary.
- **2024** — Discussed a long-term vision of AI digital twins attending meetings in a Decoder interview.
- **2026** — Zoom launched ZoomMate on June 1, extending its AI workflow strategy.

## Achievements

- Founded Zoom in 2011 and led its 2019 public listing.
- TIME’s 2020 Businessperson of the Year and a member of the 2020 TIME100.
- Carnegie Corporation 2020 Great Immigrants honoree.
- Member of the National Academy of Engineering, as listed in his current Zoom biography.
- Current Zoom biography credits him as a named inventor on 29 issued patents in real-time collaboration.

## Latest updates

- **2026-06** — On June 1, Zoom launched ZoomMate, an AI work surface for contextual search, content creation, and workflow execution.
- **2026-06** — A June 24 Zoom blog explained how ZoomMate builds on AI features integrated into Zoom Workplace.

## Links

- Website: https://www.zoom.com/en/about/team/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericsyuan/
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/ericsyuan

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/eric-yuan
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-18