Thomas Siebel is an American business executive. He is the Founder, Chairman,
and Chief Executive Officer of C3 Energy, a smart grid analytics software
company. He is the Chairman of First Virtual Group, a diversified holding
company with interests in investment management, commercial real estate,
agribusiness, and philanthropy. Early life and education
Siebel was born in Chicago, one of seven children of Arthur Francis Siebel, a
Harvard educated lawyer, and Ruth A. Siebel, a housewife. He has five
brothers and one sister: Frances Cihak; Richard, James, William, Robert, and
John. His family was Lutheran. Siebel is a graduate of the University of Illinois
at Urbana-Champaign, where he received a B.A. in history, an M.B.A., an M.S. in
computer science, and an honorary doctorate of engineering.
Career From 1984 through 1990, Siebel was an
executive at Oracle Corporation, where he held a number of management
positions. Siebel served as chief executive officer of Gain Technology, a
multimedia software company that merged with Sybase in December 1992. Siebel was
the founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Siebel Systems,
which was acquired by Oracle in January 2006. Siebel is the chairman of First
Virtual Group, a diversified holding company. He is currently Chairman and
CEO of C3 Energy. Siebel has been a frequent industry
spokesperson. His books include: Cyber Rules, and Taking Care of eBusiness
published by Doubleday, and Virtual Selling, published by the Free Press.
Honors and awards In 2013, the American Academy of Arts
and Sciences elected Tom Siebel as a member along with some of the world¹s
most accomplished scholars, scientists, writers, artists, and civic, corporate,
and philanthropic leaders. According to the news release, since its founding in
1780, the Academy has elected leading "thinkers and doers" from each
generation, including George Washington and Benjamin Franklin in the eighteenth
century, Daniel Webster and Ralph Waldo Emerson in the nineteenth, and Albert
Einstein and Winston Churchill in the twentieth. The current membership
includes more than 250 Nobel laureates and more than 60 Pulitzer Prize winners.
Siebel serves on the Board of Advisors of the Stanford University College of
Engineering, the University of Illinois College of Engineering, and the
University of California at Berkeley College of Engineering. He is a Director
of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, and is the Chairman of the
Board for the American Agora Foundation. He was a member of the Trustees of
Princeton University from 2008 to 2011. He is the Founder and Chairman of the
Meth Project and the Siebel Scholars Foundation, and Chairman of the Siebel
Foundation. He was ranked #5 and #3 of the world's top 25 philanthropists by
Barron's Magazine in 2009 and 2010, respectively. In 2007 and 2008, he was
named one of The 50 Most Generous Philanthropists by BusinessWeek.
Siebel received the David Packard Award for his achievements as a technology
entrepreneur and his contributions to national security from the Business
Executives for National Security in 2002 and was named one of the Top 25 Managers
in the World by BusinessWeek in 2000 and 2001.
In 1999, 2000, and 2001, Fortune magazine recognized Siebel Systems as
the fastest, third fastest, and second fastest growing company in the United
States, respectively. The company earned other awards under Siebel’s leadership:
One of the 50 best companies to work for in Silicon Valley by San Jose magazine
in 2004 The Entrepreneurial Company of the Year,
Harvard Business School, 2003 Among IT 100 List of Top-Performing
Companies in High Tech - BusinessWeek, 2001
The World’s Most Influential Software Company – BusinessWeek, 2000
The Most Influential Company in IT, Intelligent Enterprise, 2000
Fasting Growing Technology Company, Deloitte & Touche, 1999
Call Center Magazine inducted Siebel to its Hall of Fame in 2000 in recognition
for contributions to the business and technology of customer service. CRM
Magazine inducted him into its inaugural CRM Hall of Fame in 2003 in recognition
of his vision, strong leadership, and enduring commitment to innovation. He
has also been named: Top 10 CEOs - Investor’s Business Daily,
2000 University of Illinois Presidential
Award and Medallion, 2001 One of Top 25 Managers in Global
Business – BusinessWeek, 1999 to 2001 One of the Top 25 Executives - Computer
Reseller News, 2001 and 2002 CEO of the Year – Industry Week, 2002
David Packard Award – Business Executives for National Security, 2002
Thomas M. Siebel, Master Entrepreneur of the Year – Ernst & Young, 2003
Lewis & Clark Pioneers in Industry Award - University of Montana, 2006
The 50 Most Generous Philanthropists – BusinessWeek, 2007, 2008
Lincoln Academy Laureate – The Lincoln Academy of Illinois, 2008
Engineering at Illinois Hall of Fame - University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign, 2010 Woodrow Wilson Award for Corporate
Citizenship – The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars of the
Smithsonian Institution, 2010 Ranked #5 of the World's Top 25
Philanthropists – Barron's, 2009 Ranked #3 of the World's Top 25
Philanthropists – Barron's, 2010 Alumni Achievement Awards - University
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2013 One of the World's Top 25 Eco-Innovators
- FORTUNE magazine, 2014 Philanthropy
The Siebel Foundation is active in support of the homeless and
underprivileged, educational and research programs, methamphetamine abuse
prevention, and alternative energy solutions. The Siebel Foundation created
the Siebel Scholars Foundation, the Dearborn Scholars Fund in Montana, and
the Meth Project Foundation. The Office of National Drug Control Policy awarded
the Meth Project a White House commendation as the most influential
prevention campaign in 2006, and Tom Siebel accepted the award on the
program’s behalf. He was also recognized for his work on the program with the
2006 Director’s Community Leadership Award from the Federal Bureau of
Investigation. In 2001, Siebel donated $32 million to
his alma mater, the Department of Computer Science at the University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, to build the Siebel Center for Computer Science,
opened in spring 2004. In 2006, Siebel donated $4 million to the University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to establish two endowed full
professorships, the Thomas M. Siebel Chair in the History of Science and the
Thomas M. Siebel Chair in Computer Science. Siebel pledged an additional
$100 million gift to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2007.
Siebel continues to develop philanthropic initiatives.
Political Involvement From 2009 to 2014, Siebel made a total
of $335,300 in political contributions. Approximately 90% of this was
independent and 10% was for Republican Party candidates.
In April 2014, Congresswoman Jackie Speier from California met with C3
Energy executives, including Siebel, to discuss how the latest developments in
IT are being applied to the power grid. In 2013, C3 Energy hosted former Senator
Max Baucus from Montana, and Siebel and Baucus discussed the ways in which
information technology addresses the utility industry’s big data challenge.
Personal life A part-time Montana resident, Siebel
owns and operates the Dearborn Ranch in Wolf Creek, Montana, a working cattle
ranch. Siebel's time in Montana has lasted 35 years.
= Elephant incident = On the morning of August 1, 2009, he and
a guide were in Tanzania, observing a group of elephants from 200 yards away,
when an elephant charged Siebel's guide and then turned on Siebel, breaking
several ribs, goring him in the left leg, and crushing the right.
He told Golf Digest, "[The elephant] stops 2½ feet from me for three seconds.
One thousand one. One thousand two. One thousand three. It's an image I'll never
forget. Five or six tons standing there. I can smell it. I can see the hair
follicles, the eye, the tusk, the trunk right in front of me. I don't know what
I was thinking. Most certainly I was terrified. After three seconds, the
elephant knocks me to the ground and basically starts to dismantle me.
Rolling me, stepping on me, kicking me, putting a tusk through my left thigh and
pulling it out sideways, stomping me into the dust.”
Siebel suffered several injuries: his left leg was impaled, his right was
crushed, and his ribs were broken. They radioed for help, but it was three hours
before he received any medical treatment. He was flown to the Aga Khan
University Hospital in Nairobi, where they cleaned his wounds and stabilized
his leg. He was then flown back to the United States on a 20-hour flight with
only 10-hours of morphine and 15 hours of fluids. He had lost half of his
fluids and was put in the intensive care unit. He was moved to Stanford Hospital
where, over the next six months, they performed 11 surgeries, fixed his ribs
and shoulder, and saved his left leg. In September 2010, a year after the
attack, Siebel had undergone 16 surgeries and an Ilizarov apparatus
external fixator to mend, lengthen, and reshape the tibia of his right leg.
After enduring 19 reconstructive surgeries total over two and a half
years, Siebel has now made a full recovery.
In 2013, National Geographic included Siebel’s account in its TV series Dead
or Alive: "Trampled on Safari". Trampled on Safari.
Books Taking Care of eBusiness ISBN
0-385-50227-3 Cyber Rules ISBN 84-7577-804-6
Virtual Selling ISBN 0-7432-3649-1 References
= Sources = Silicon Valley Republicans to welcome
Palin to tech giant's Woodside fundraiser: While California Republicans
aren't counting on carrying California in November, they are seizing the GOP VP
candidate's sudden stardom to raise cash in the state. Mary Anne Ostrom, Mercury
News, September 6, 2008 Woodside fundraiser for Palin popular,
but Democratic women in Silicon Valley skeptical about the Palin effect, Mary
Anne Ostrom and Linda Goldston, Mercury News, September 12, 2008
Palin cancels stop in California, Mary Anne Ostrom, Mercury News, September 18,
2008 Breaking bread with Sarah Palin, Leah
Garchik, San Francisco Chronicle, September 18, 2008
External links Catalytic Philanthropy – Stanford Social
Innovation Review, Fall 2009 The Mercury News Interview: Tom Siebel,
chairman of First Virtual Group and the Siebel Foundation., Brandon Bailey,
Mercury News, 062009 Tom Siebel: The Energy Free Home
Challenge, Forbes, June 2009 Success Stories » The Siebel Foundation:
strategic focus achieves groundbreaking results, Smartlink, December 2008
Back to the Garage: How Economic Turmoil Breeds Innovation, Wired, December 2008
The Anti Drug Lord, Good Magazine, June 2008