Apple Computer Wednesday said it has elected former Vice President of the United States, Al Gore Jr. to its board of directors.
The Cupertino, Calif.-based computer maker has been operating without a full board since Oracle CEO Larry Ellison departed last September for personal reasons. Ellison had been on Apple’s board for five years.
Gore, who also serves as a senior advisor to Google, is “an avid Mac user and does his own video editing in Final Cut Pro,” according to Apple CEO Steve Jobs
“Al is going to be a terrific Director and we’re excited and honored that he has chosen Apple as his first private sector board to serve on,” Jobs said in a statement.
The former Vice President will be joining the other five Apple board members: Intuit chairman and former CEO Bill Campbell; J. Crew chairman and CEO Millard Drexler; Genentech chairman and CEO Arthur D. Levinson, Ph. D.; Micro Warehouse president and CEO Jerry York; and of course Jobs, who also leads Pixar.
“Steve and his team have done an incredible job in making Apple once again the very best in the world,” Gore said in a statement. “I have been particularly impressed with the new Mac OS X operating system and the company’s commitment to the open source movement. And I am especially looking forward to working with and learning from the great board members who have guided this legendary company’s inspiring resurgence.”
Mr. Gore was inaugurated as the 45th Vice President of the United States on January 20, 1993. He was re-elected in 1996. He served for a total of eight years as President of the Senate, a member of the cabinet and the National Security Council, and as the leader of a wide range of Administration initiatives including environmental policy, technology, science, communications and government cost reduction.
As a member of the U.S. Congress 25 years ago, he popularized the term “Information Superhighway,” and was instrumental in fighting for federal funds to assist in building what later became the Internet. He continues to be active in launching a public/private effort to wire every classroom and library in America to the Internet.
Since leaving office, Gore is also a visiting professor at the University of California Los Angeles, Fisk University and Middle Tennessee State University.
