Alice Schwartz

Bio-Rad

With $720 in savings, Alice Schwartz and her husband David launched Bio-Rad Laboratories in a Berkeley Quonset hut in 1952. Early products included ion exchange resins, substances used to facilitate pharmaceutical manufacturing and lab research. Bio-Rad now sells 10,000 life science research and clinical diagnostics products and had 2021 revenues of $2.9 billion. Bio-Rad held its IPO in 1966. It was listed on the American Stock Exchange in 1980, then the New York Stock Exchange in 2008. Schwartz, who was widowed in 2012, owns an 11% stake and stepped down from the board in April 2022; her son Norman is chairman and CEO.

Year appointed: 1952