Richard M. Schell

2017 Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award

After almost four decades of working on the leading edge of technological transformation in business, Richard Schell’s resume includes many of the landmark names in Silicon Valley – Borland, Intel, Netscape Communications, and Sun Microsystems. 

As a student at Illinois, Schell worked on the PLATO project. After completing work on his doctoral degree, Schell started as a software engineer at Intel, before moving into management and eventually leading strategic planning for the company’s microcomputer group . At Netscape, he was the company’s first vice president of engineering, responsible for growing the engineering team from 20 to more than 600 people, and he directed the work that led to the first commercially successful Web browser and Web servers. 

After leaving Netscape, Schell founded internet startup iSharp, before joining NetIQ, a leading provider of management and security software. Since 2006, he has focused on helping develop early-stage startups, providing business and technical expertise at ONSET Ventures.

Schell has previously served as a member of the Department of Computer Science’s Alumni Advisory Board.