Charles Trimble is the founder and former CEO of Trimble Navigation, Ltd., a leading developer of commercial equipment utilizing the Global Positioning System (GPS). He led the company from a start-up in 1978 through a public offering in 1990. Trimble Navigation was largely responsible for creating the commercial GPS industry. At the time of Trimble’s departure in 1998, the company was the dominant worldwide supplier of GPS equipment. Since then he has mentored start-ups and served on boards of directors, both public and private..
Mr. Trimble is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the Council on Foreign Relations. He served on the NASA Advisory Council, the National Electronics Manufacturing Initiative, and as chairman of the United States Global Positioning System Industry Council. Trimble is the past chairman and currently a member of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory(JPL) Committee of Caltech’s Board of Trustees. He has served as a Caltech Trustee since June, 2002 and he is Chairman of the Caltech’s Biology and Biological Engineering Chair Council, a group of individuals involved with funding cutting edge biotech research who advise the Division Chairman and have access to professors.
Mr. Trimble is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including Inc. magazine’s Entrepreneur of the Year in 1991, the American Electronics Association Medal of Achievement in 2000, the Piper General Aviation Award from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the NASA Public Service Medal in 2001 and 2004, the Von Karman International Wings Award in 2016.
Trimble earned his BS in engineering in 1963, his MS in electrical engineering in 1964, the Distinguished Alumni Award from the California Institute of Technology.