Barry M. Schuler
Portrait of Barry Schuler, 2005
3rd CEO of America Online
Term	January 1, 2000 - February 1, 2003
Spouse	Tracy Schuler
Preceded by	Steve Case Steve Case Stephen McConnell "Steve" Case is an American businessman best known as the co-founder and former chief executive officer and chairman of America Online . Since his retirement as chairman of AOL Time Warner in 2003, he has gone on to build a variety of new businesses through his investment...
Succeeded by	Jonathan Miller
Born	September 7, 1953 Jersey City Jersey City, New Jersey Jersey City is the seat of Hudson County, New Jersey, United States.Part of the New York metropolitan area, Jersey City lies between the Hudson River and Upper New York Bay across from Lower Manhattan and the Hackensack River and Newark Bay... , New Jersey New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

Barry Martin Schuler (born September 7, 1953 in Jersey City, New Jersey) is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 Internet

Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

 entrepreneur and former chairman and CEO

Chief executive officer

A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...

 of America Online Inc. He is best known for leading the AOL team that simplified the online service provider’s user interface, making it possible for millions of consumers to gain easy access to the Internet.

Early years

Barry Schuler grew up in West New York, New Jersey. As a suburban youth, Schuler was encouraged early on by his parents to explore the arts (photography, painting and sculpture) as well as electronics. He turned his family’s basement into a darkroom while helping his father, a warehouse owner and part-time repair man, tinker with television sets and other gadgetry.

In the mid-1970s, while completing a Bachelor’s degree in psychology at Rutgers University

Rutgers University

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...

, Schuler became captivated by filmmaking

Filmmaking

Filmmaking is the process of making a film, from an initial story, idea, or commission, through scriptwriting, casting, shooting, directing, editing, and screening the finished product before an audience that may result in a theatrical release or television program...

. In 1976, he left the university to produce and direct commercial and industrial films. An avid computer hobbyist and reader of Popular Electronics

Popular Electronics

Popular Electronics was an American magazine started by Ziff-Davis Publishing in October 1954 for electronics hobbyists and experimenters. It soon became the "World's Largest-Selling Electronics Magazine". The circulation was 240,151 in April 1957 and 400,000 by 1963. Ziff-Davis published Popular...

, Schuler befriended a group of technical enthusiasts who were developing software applications for microcomputer

Microcomputer

A microcomputer is a computer with a microprocessor as its central processing unit. They are physically small compared to mainframe and minicomputers...

s. After assembling a do-it-yourself IMSAI computer

IMSAI 8080

The IMSAI 8080 was an early microcomputer released in late 1975, based on the Intel 8080 and later 8085 and S-100 bus. It was a clone of its main competitor, the earlier MITS Altair 8800. The IMSAI is largely regarded as the first "clone" computer. The IMSAI machine ran a highly modified version of...

 and experiencing first hand the potential of at-home computing, Schuler saw the technology’s ability to positively disrupt and enhance the way people lived and worked. In 1978, he established CMP Communications, an advertising and marketing company devoted to helping high tech entrepreneurs spread the word about the impending revolution in microcomputing.

Schuler quit CMP in 1988 and took a position as president and CEO of Cricket Software, overseeing the development and marketing of color desktop applications for Apple Computer

Apple Computer

Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad...

’s Macintosh

Macintosh

The Macintosh , or Mac, is a series of several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced by Apple's then-chairman Steve Jobs on January 24, 1984; it was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a...

, including a Postscript driven drawing program. Cricket also developed the first color, graphical desktop presentation software, “Cricket Presents.” Cricket was ultimately sold to Computer Associates International in 1991.

Schuler was President of San Francisco-based Jasmine Technologies from 1989 to 1990. Jasmine was a leading Macintosh peripherals developer that buckled under the weight of bitter lawsuits and mounting customer dissatisfaction. Jasmine declared bankruptcy in March 1990 and Schuler resigned shortly thereafter.

Looking to take advantage of the opportunities that a new ‘Interactive” medium would bring, Schuler teamed up with (present day) wife Tracy and David Goldman shortly after and established Medior Inc., a multimedia

Multimedia

Multimedia is media and content that uses a combination of different content forms. The term can be used as a noun or as an adjective describing a medium as having multiple content forms. The term is used in contrast to media which use only rudimentary computer display such as text-only, or...

 development company, Medior Inc. In 1994, the company entered into a joint venture with, Apple Computer Inc., and Redgate Communications and launched 2Market, considered to be the first rich media online shopping service. That same year, AOL (America Online) also enlisted Medior’s help designing its product to give consumers with little or no computing expertise easy access to its online information services. While at Medior, Schuler and company co-developed a music creation game with Nick Tenbrock and Gary Levenberg of San Francisco-based Interactive Audio. The software, called Rock, Rap and Roll, allowed Macintosh users to quickly build soundtracks in a variety of musical styles. Medior also collaborated with Time Warner

Time Warner

Time Warner is one of the world's largest media companies, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. Formerly two separate companies, Warner Communications, Inc...

, one of its clients, on the building of the world’s first digital, switched, interactive broadband communications network delivering a range of services. The service was launched in December 1994 in Orlando, Fla.

AOL years

In 1995, Medior was acquired by AOL. Schuler, brought over from Medior by AOL founder and CEO Steve Case

Steve Case

Stephen McConnell "Steve" Case is an American businessman best known as the co-founder and former chief executive officer and chairman of America Online . Since his retirement as chairman of AOL Time Warner in 2003, he has gone on to build a variety of new businesses through his investment...

, was charged with helping him and then president Ted Leonsis

Ted Leonsis

Theodore John Leonsis is an Internet pioneer, sports team owner, venture capital investor, filmmaker, author and philanthropist. His early new media company, Redgate Communications was acquired by America Online in 1994, and Leonsis became a senior AOL executive for the next 13 years...

 to transform the online service provider into a broad based, consumer-driven medium. Schuler worked his way up the ranks at AOL becoming president of its Interactive Services group in 1998. During this time, he led the design team that integrated an Internet browser directly in AOL’s proprietary user interface (version 5.0) making it possible for millions of computer users to access the Internet through a Web-based portal. He also advocated the opening up of AOL’s proprietary message service known as IM

Instant messaging

Instant Messaging is a form of real-time direct text-based chatting communication in push mode between two or more people using personal computers or other devices, along with shared clients. The user's text is conveyed over a network, such as the Internet...

, a key development that allowed its subscriber base to “chat” electronically over the Internet with non-AOL computer users free of charge. By January 2001, the same month that AOL announced its merger with Time-Warner, the company’s 26 million subscribers were sending an estimated 660 million instant messages daily.

It was on the heels of the Time Warner merger that Schuler was appointed chairman and CEO of the AOL unit. He was charged with finding ways to turn AOL into an interactive outlet for Time-Warner’s various media divisions, which included film, music, television and publishing. The goal was to transform AOL into a high-speed, Internet-based,” one-stop shop for movies, music, interactive video games, phone service, and more.”

In a July 2, 2001 article, BusinessWeek

BusinessWeek

Bloomberg Businessweek, commonly and formerly known as BusinessWeek, is a weekly business magazine published by Bloomberg L.P. It is currently headquartered in New York City.- History :...

 reporter Amy Borrus wrote that Schuler, “deserves just as much credit for AOL’s explosive success” as then AOL Time Warner

Time Warner

Time Warner is one of the world's largest media companies, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. Formerly two separate companies, Warner Communications, Inc...

 Inc. Chairman Steve Case or co-Chief Operating Officer Robert Pittman. The reporter pointed to the three years Schuler spent running AOL’s Interactive Services group, “putting his stamp on much of the design that makes it so simple to use and features that make it so popular with families.” Schuler’s objective of converging a souped-up version of AOL’s online distribution platform with Time Warner’s various media outlets hit several roadblocks one being reluctance on the part of cable companies to open up their network to Internet service providers such as AOL. Likewise, internal dissent over the best ways to merge AOL’s distribution channels with Time Warner’s more traditional media content plagued the online unit. Against this backdrop, AOL was struggling with declining advertising sales due to an economic downturn as well as a leveling out of its still dial-up driven subscriber growth. The unit took a further hit when its parent was forced to restate its earnings forecast in January 2002, in part due to the slowdown in AOL’s business. Schuler stepped down as head of the unit in April 2002, taking over a newly created digital development unit charged with overseeing the formation of interactive digital products and services for all of AOL Time Warner. He officially resigned from AOL-Time Warner in 2003.

After AOL

Shortly after his departure from AOL, Schuler found himself invited to invest in a start up Ablation Industries, Inc. Ablation Industries, Inc was commercializing (Ultrashort pulse laser) USP laser technology funded by the U.S. government’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is an agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of new technology for use by the military...

, also known as DARPA. When Mr Schuler invested in the company, the name of the company was changed to Raydiance, where he raised a significant amount of venture capital funding to help commercialize new technologies of national interest, among them ultrashort pulse laser

Ultrashort pulse laser

An ultrashort pulse laser is a laser that emits ultrashort pulses of light, generally of the order of femtoseconds to ten picoseconds. Thus they are also known as ultrafast lasers. But "ultrafast laser" is a misnomer, since the speed of light is constant in a given medium.Common current ultrashort...

s. A form of optoelectronics

Optoelectronics

Optoelectronics is the study and application of electronic devices that source, detect and control light, usually considered a sub-field of photonics. In this context, light often includes invisible forms of radiation such as gamma rays, X-rays, ultraviolet and infrared, in addition to visible light...

, the lasers emits short pulses of highly concentrated energy that can be used to break down atom

Atom

The atom is a basic unit of matter that consists of a dense central nucleus surrounded by a cloud of negatively charged electrons. The atomic nucleus contains a mix of positively charged protons and electrically neutral neutrons...

s. In 2004, Schuler joined Raydiance Inc.

Raydiance Inc.

Raydiance Inc., headquartered in Petaluma, California, is the maker of the world’s first software-controlled ultrashort pulse laser. The company was established in 2003 by Jeff Bullington and Peter Delfyett in Orlando Flroida as Ablation Industries, Inc. In 2004 Ablation Industries changed its to...

 to develop commercial applications for ultra-short pulse lasers. In July 2007, Wired Magazine reported that Raydiance had signed a deal with the U.S. Federal Drug Administration (FDA) to explore laser therapies, ranging from common laser eye treatments

LASIK

LASIK or Lasik , commonly referred to simply as laser eye surgery, is a type of refractive surgery for correcting myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism...

 to the cell-by-cell tumor

Tumor

A tumor or tumour is commonly used as a synonym for a neoplasm that appears enlarged in size. Tumor is not synonymous with cancer...

 ablation

Ablation

Ablation is removal of material from the surface of an object by vaporization, chipping, or other erosive processes. This occurs in spaceflight during ascent and atmospheric reentry, glaciology, medicine, and passive fire protection.-Spaceflight:...

.

In addition to serving as CEO of Raydiance, Schuler is managing director of the Draper Fisher Jurvetson

Draper Fisher Jurvetson

Draper Fisher Jurvetson is a venture capital firm based in Menlo Park, California with affiliate offices in more than 30 cities around the world and over $7 billion in capital commitments....

 Growth Fund and serves on the boards of UBMatrix, Hands On Mobile

Hands On Mobile

Hands-On Mobile is a wireless entertainment company, established in 2001.The company develops, publishes and distributes mobile content via network operators and portals...

, UU See, Synthetic Genomics

Synthetic Genomics

Synthetic Genomics is a company dedicated to using modified or synthetically produced microorganisms to produce the alternative fuels ethanol and hydrogen. Synthetic Genomics was founded in part by J. Craig Venter...

, and Visto

Visto

Visto was a private US company located in Redwood Shores, CA. Visto sold Push e-mail products for mobile phones. The company acquired Good Technology in 2009 and renamed itself for the acquired company.- Visto the Company :...

. Schuler is an investor in Adirondack Pictures. He also co-produced and helped finance the film Look, a drama shot entirely from the point of view of surveillance cameras. Written and directed by Adam Rifkin

Adam Rifkin

Adam Rifkin sometimes credited as Rif Coogan, is an American film director, producer, actor and writer. Rifkin is claimed to belong to a rare breed of film directors that transited from public-access television cable TV to Hollywood.His eclectic career ranges from broad family comedies to cult...

 with Brad Wyman

Brad Wyman

Brad Hibbs Wyman is an American film producer, best known for producing Monster. His first film was White of the Eye, and later worked on Freeway, Trees Lounge, The Dark Backward, The Chase, and Barb Wire. He currently lives in Los Angeles, California...

 as his fellow producer. The film was digitally shot in high-definition with all the special effects, post production and music done on Apple’s Macintosh computers in a “virtual studio” setting. Look, released in December 2007, is distributed by Liberated Artists, another Schuler venture. It won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2007 CineVegas

Cinevegas

CineVegas was a film festival held annually at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas that ran from 1999 to 2009, typically in early June. Robin Greenspun serves as the Festival president, and Trevor Groth serves as artistic director. Actor Dennis Hopper is the chairman of the Festival's creative...

 Film Festival. It also won Special Jury Prize at The Lone Star International Film Festival and was an official selection in both AFI Fest and The Chicago International Film Festival.

Schuler lives in Napa, California

Napa, California

-History:The name Napa was probably derived from the name given to a southern Nappan village whose people shared the area with elk, deer, grizzlies and cougars for many centuries, according to Napa historian Kami Santiago. At the time of the first recorded exploration into Napa Valley in 1823, the...

. A vocal proponent of public education

Public education

State schools, also known in the United States and Canada as public schools,In much of the Commonwealth, including Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom, the terms 'public education', 'public school' and 'independent school' are used for private schools, that is, schools...

 reform

Education reform

Education reform is the process of improving public education. Small improvements in education theoretically have large social returns, in health, wealth and well-being. Historically, reforms have taken different forms because the motivations of reformers have differed.A continuing motivation has...

, He co-founded the Blue Oak School

Blue Oak School

Blue Oak School is an independent school in Napa, California. The building the school is housed within was originally built in 1909 and called the Washington Primary School. In the 1950s, the building became the Napa County Offices. In 2002 the building was renovated and named Blue Oak School...

, an independent, not-for-profit entity for students, kindergarten through eighth grade. Schuler is a national advisory member for the New Technology Foundation (NTF), a non-profit organization established in 1999 with the objective of achieving national education reform. Using the Napa New Technology High School as a prototype

Prototype

A prototype is an early sample or model built to test a concept or process or to act as a thing to be replicated or learned from.The word prototype derives from the Greek πρωτότυπον , "primitive form", neutral of πρωτότυπος , "original, primitive", from πρῶτος , "first" and τύπος ,...

 for encouraging innovative academic objectives, NTF provides interested schools with training, tools and access to expertise developed through the NTHS school site. Through his affiliation with the foundation, Schuler has helped drive and co-funded the implementation of Internet-based technology to establish a project-based learning methodology consistent with the implementation of the 21st Century Learning Initiative.

He and wife Tracy co-own Meteor Vineyard, located in the Coombsville

Coombsville

Coombsville is an agricultural area located at the southeastern end of the Napa Valley’s famed grape-growing appellation. Since the middle of the 20th century, it has gained recognition for its suitability for slow-ripening Bordeaux varietals such as cabernet sauvignon.- Terrain and Climate :A...

 region of the Napa Valley, with winemakers Bill and Dawnine Dyer

Dawnine Dyer

Dawnine Sample Dyer is an American winemaker who pioneered the use of Champagne making methods in California’s fledgling sparkling wine industry in the 1970s.-Biography:...

.

Schuler is a member of the Rutgers Hall of Distinguished Alumni.

Meteor Vineyard

Meteor Vineyard is a 22 acres (89,030.9 m²) property located in the Coombsville agricultural area of the Napa Valley AVA

Napa Valley AVA

Napa Valley AVA is an American Viticultural Area located in Napa County, California, United States. Napa Valley is considered one of the top wine regions in the United States...

. It was established in 1998 by former America Online Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive Barry M. Schuler and his wife, Tracy Strong Schuler. Meteor Vineyard is located at the southeast end of the Napa Valley, near the San Francisco Bay

San Francisco Bay

San Francisco Bay is a shallow, productive estuary through which water draining from approximately forty percent of California, flowing in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers from the Sierra Nevada mountains, enters the Pacific Ocean...

.

Through 2004, Meteor Vineyard’s grape

Grape

A grape is a non-climacteric fruit, specifically a berry, that grows on the perennial and deciduous woody vines of the genus Vitis. Grapes can be eaten raw or they can be used for making jam, juice, jelly, vinegar, wine, grape seed extracts, raisins, molasses and grape seed oil. Grapes are also...

s were sold in bulk to a handful of Napa Valley properties including Dyer, Arietta, Etude and Vineyard 29. In 2005, the Schulers entered into a partnership with winemakers Dawnine Dyer and Bill Dyer to produce a single-vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon bottled under the Meteor Vineyard. The team bottled their first vintage

Vintage

Vintage, in wine-making, is the process of picking grapes and creating the finished product . A vintage wine is one made from grapes that were all, or primarily, grown and harvested in a single specified year. In certain wines, it can denote quality, as in Port wine, where Port houses make and...

 later that year, and the wine was released beginning 2008.

Soil conditions in the Coombsville area are a mix of well-draining river rock and mineral-rich volcanic ash, both of which are considered suitable for Bordeaux

Bordeaux wine

A Bordeaux wine is any wine produced in the Bordeaux region of France. Average vintages produce over 700 million bottles of Bordeaux wine, ranging from large quantities of everyday table wine, to some of the most expensive and prestigious wines in the world...

 varietal

Varietal

"Varietal" describes wines made primarily from a single named grape variety, and which typically displays the name of that variety on the wine label. Examples of grape varieties commonly used in varietal wines are Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Merlot...

s, including Cabernet Sauvignon

Cabernet Sauvignon

Cabernet Sauvignon is one of the world's most widely recognized red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates from Canada's Okanagan Valley to Lebanon's Beqaa Valley...

.

External links

• Barry Schuler - IMDb Profile
• Barry Schuler - LOOK-the Movie
• Barry Schuler - Speech by Schuler, sc21 21st Century Education
• Barry Schuler - Meteor Vineyard
• Barry Schuler - Draper Fisher Jurvetson Growth Fund
• Barry Schuler - Synthetic Genomics
• Barry Schuler - Raydiance, Inc. Bio
• Barry Schuler - Visto Biography
• Barry Schuler - UU See
• Barry Schuler - Hands on Mobile
• Barry Schuler - UBMatrix
• Barry Schuler - New Tech Foundation