Patrick M. Byrne
Chairman and CEO
Overstock.com
Patrick Byrne received a bachelor's degree from Dartmouth College (Asian Studies & Philosophy), a master's degree in philosophy from Cambridge University as a Marshall scholar, and a doctorate in philosophy from Stanford University.
Byrne served as chairman, president and CEO of Centricut, LLC, a manufacturer of industrial torches, then held the same three positions at Fechheimer Brothers, Inc., a Berkshire Hathaway company manufacturing police, firefighter, and military uniforms. Currently Byrne is Chairman and CEO of Utah-based internet retailer Overstock.com.
Since Byrne launched Overstock.com in 1999, he and his company have garnered attention from numerous national media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, ABC News with Peter Jennings, Fortune, CBS Marketwatch, and Business Week, among others, and has been a frequent guest on Bloomberg TV, CNBC, and Fox News shows (such as Cavuto and Kudlow & Cramer). In 2002, Byrne was named to Business Week's list of the 25 most influential people in e-Business: the magazine cited survival strength and vision as qualities that qualified Byrne for the list. In 2003 Ernst & Young awarded Byrne an Entrepreneur of the Year award in the category of Lifetime Achievement.
Byrne has a black belt in tae kwon do and once pursued a career in professional boxing. He has ridden a bicycle across the country four times: his last ride, in the summer of 2000, was to raise awareness and money for cancer research at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Byrne is also dedicated to helping the disadvantaged on a global scale. In 2001, he began Worldstock.com, Overstock.com's socially responsible goods department, selling handcrafted products created by artisans from developing countries (and from underprivileged artisans in the U.S.) at extremely low prices: the artisans who create these products are paid an average of 70% of the price charged by Overstock.com.