The Cutler Lectureship, in memory of Lloyd N. Cutler, who served Salzburg Global Seminar for more than two decades as Board Chair, is presented annually and features a distinguished speaker on a vital legal issue of international interest.

This year the lecture was hosted by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and was delivered by Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman of Google.

The following morning at the National Public Radio (NPR) Headquarters, a special panel followed up on Mr. Schmidt's lecture to discuss why Europeans and Americans have different views of privacy, whether internet regulation can be reconciled across borders, and the meaning and enforceability of the recent ruling of the European Court of Justice in the Costeja case.

Since joining Google in 2001, Eric Schmidt has helped grow the company from a Silicon Valley startup to a global leader in technology. As executive chairman, he is responsible for the external matters of Google: building partnerships and broader business relationships, government outreach and technology thought leadership, as well as advising the CEO and senior leadership on business and policy issues.

From 2001-2011, Eric served as Google's chief executive officer, overseeing the company's technical and business strategy alongside founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page. Under his leadership, Google dramatically scaled its infrastructure and diversified its product offerings while maintaining a strong culture of innovation.

Prior to joining Google, Eric was the chairman and CEO of Novell and chief technology officer at Sun Microsystems, Inc. Previously, he served on the research staff at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), Bell Laboratories and Zilog. He holds a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Princeton University as well as a master's degree and Ph.D. in computer science from the University of California, Berkeley.

Eric is a member of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and the Prime Minister's Advisory Council in the U.K. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2006 and inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences as a fellow in 2007. He also chairs the board of the New America Foundation, and since 2008 has been a trustee of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. In May 2012, Eric became a member of Khan Academy's board of directors and the following year he joined the board of The Economist. In 2013, Eric and Jared Cohen co-authored The New York Times bestselling book, The New Digital Age: Transforming Nations, Businesses, and Our Lives. In September 2014, Eric published his second New York Times best seller, How Google Works, which he and Jonathan Rosenberg co-authored with Alan Eagle.