Edward (Ned) W. Barnholt

Headed the Agilent spin-off from Hewlett-Packard in 1999, Barnholt served as President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chairman of the Board of Agilent Technologies until his retirement in 2005.

Born in New York City, New York, Barnholt received a Bachelor of Science degree from Stanford University in 1965 and his MS in electrical engineering in 1966. He went from there to Hewlett-Packard's Palo Alto headquarters, where he became a true believer in "the Hewlett-Packard Way," a style of management that involved a great deal of interaction among management staff and employees.

His experience in marketing as well as his leadership of a new division in Seattle made him a candidate for running the Agilent spin-off from Hewlett-Packard in 1999. He took over leadership of Agilent just as the market for Agilent's high-tech products went into a steep and prolonged decline. His response to the crisis that followed put Barnholt's skills to a severe test.

He has served as chairman of the KLA–Tencor Corporation and on the board of the Tech Museum of Innovation, eBay, and Adobe. Barnholt has been a senior fellow of the American Leadership Forum and a member of their Board of Directors from 1998 to 2004. In 2004, he was presented with the John W. Gardner Leadership Award in recognition of his continuing commitment to building community, service, and philanthropy in Silicon Valley.

Other awards he received included the AeA Medal of Achievement, 2002; Excellence in Leadership Communication Award, International Association of Business Communicators, 2003; Spirit of Silicon Valley Lifetime Achievement Award, Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group, 2003; and National Day Award, Singapore, 2004.