Charlie Ergen

Charlie Ergen Biography

Charles William Ergen better known as Charlie Ergen (born March 1, 1953) is the co-founder and current Chairman of the Board, and former President and CEO of the Dish Network, formerly known as the EchoStar Communications Corporation. He stepped down as CEO in May 2011. He remains Chairman of the Board.

Early life and education

Ergen was born into an Episcopalian family in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, on March 1, 1953, the fourth of five children born to Viola and William Ergen. His mother was one of the first female accountants in the state of Minnesota and his father was an Austrian immigrant who was working in Sweden as a nuclear physicist who left Europe prior to World War II as part of the continental brain drain. His father coined the phrase "China Syndrome". His parents married in Minnesota in 1944 and then moved to Camden, New Jersey, before settling in Oak Ridge where his father accepted a position at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Ergen received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, where he was a walk-on basketball player, and an M.B.A. from Wake Forest University. He was a professional blackjack and poker player.

Career

In 1980, he founded EchoStar with his wife and friend Jim DeFranco. He started selling satellite dishes door to door in Colorado. Both Ergen's wife and DeFranco still sit on EchoStar's eight-member board. He purchased Sling Media in 2008.

He supported John McCain in the 2008 presidential election.

Personal life

He is married to Cantey ("Candy") McAdam. They have five children. They live in Littleton, Colorado.

This webpage uses material from the Wikipedia article "Charlie_Ergen" and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. Reality TV World is not responsible for any errors or omissions the Wikipedia article may contain.

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