Gary L. Bloom

CEO, eMeter

California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

Gary L. Bloom is a Cal Poly graduate, an active and engaged alumni leader and a senior executive in California's high technology industry with a solid reputation as a soft-spoken, hard-working leader with incredible integrity and ethics.

Mr. Bloom is the Chief Executive Officer of eMeter, a leader in Smart Grid Management software. Previously, he was the chairman, president and chief executive officer of VERITAS Software Corporation. Under Mr. Bloom's leadership, VERITAS revenues nearly doubled from 2000 to 2004. In July of 2005, VERITAS Software merged with Symantec Corporation where Mr. Bloom served as vice chairman and president until March of 2006.

Before joining VERITAS, Mr. Bloom held senior executive-level positions at Oracle, where he most recently served as executive vice president. During his 14-year career at Oracle, he led the company's database business, worldwide marketing, support, education and alliance organizations, and he was responsible for mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Bloom's relationship with Cal Poly began as a computer science student and continued with membership in the President's Cabinet starting in 2000, the same year he was named Cal Poly's College of Engineering Honored Alumnus.

Mr. Bloom is the founding chair of the Cal Poly Foundation, a private, nonprofit corporation established for the purpose of generating private support to build and maintain Cal Poly's special polytechnic, high-quality "learn by doing" education model. He has played a key leadership role in securing private support for the new Center for Science and Mathematics. He and his wife, Judy, also established the Bloom Industry Partnership to support Cal Poly computer science students.

He is a visionary with more than 20 years of senior executive experience who has channeled his leadership skills toward sustaining and advancing the university as the founding chair of the Cal Poly Foundation Board, a member of the Cal Poly President's Cabinet and one of Cal Poly's most generous supporters; he is among the university's most important partners.

In recognition of his exemplary professional achievements, public service and extraordinary commitment to higher education, the Board of Trustees of the California State University and California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo are proud to confer upon Gary L. Bloom the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters.