Henry Nicholas

Henry Thompson “Nick” Nicholas, III (b.1959), is an American entrepreneur, philanthropist and leader of the victims’ rights movement. He is the co-founder, and former Co-Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer of Broadcom Corporation.

Nicholas served as Broadcom’s President and Chief Executive Officer from its inception in 1991 until January, 2002, and during his tenure the company grew to $1 billion in revenue faster than any other semiconductor company (48 months). Last year, Broadcom had net revenue of $4.5 billion and currently employees more than 7,700 people worldwide. In the first quarter of 2010 the company had net revenue of $1.46 billion.

In 2003, Nicholas resigned as Broadcom's Co-Chairman, President and Chief Executive Office, saying that his resignation "was driven entirely by personal issues related to family separation and divorce".

Nicholas, whose sister, Marsy, was murdered in 1983, is an advocate for victims’ rights. He was the co-author and primary sponsor of “Marsy’s Law,” a "Victims’ Bill of Rights" ballot initiative (Proposition 9), which was passed by California voters in November, 2008, as an amendment to the California constitution.

Through his foundation, Nicholas is a supporter of education initiatives, including two Nicholas Academic Centers in Santa Ana, California, which provide free after-school tutoring for high school students. The foundation also supports institutions such as UCLA and UC Irvine and programs in medical research, youth sports, national defense and other areas.

Nicholas is ranked number 236 on the 2009 list of Forbes' richest Americans, with a net worth of $1.5 billion.

Early Life and Education

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Henry Nicholas at graduation with his sister Marsy

Nicholas was born in Cincinnati, Ohio to Marcella and Henry T. Nicholas Jr., and lived in Glendale, Ohio until he was 4 years old. His father was an attorney with the IRS and his mother was a teacher and later an administrator and theater instructor in the Princeton School District. When his parents divorced, he moved with his mother and sister to Los Angeles, California.

His mother remarried, to Robert Leach, a journalist and Hollywood screenwriter, who authored feature film scripts and episodes of such classic television shows as Perry Mason and Sea Hunt. Nicholas attended elementary schools in Malibu and Santa Monica High School.

He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the UCLA, after attending the United States Air Force Academy, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Nicholas earned a Masters Degree and PhD. in Electrical Engineering from UCLA. His doctoral dissertation on “Architectures, Optimization Techniques, and VLSI Implementations for Direct Digital Frequency Synthesizers” became the basis for the development of the chip that launched Broadcom.

Early Career

After graduating from UCLA in 1987, Nicholas worked at TRW in Redondo Beach, where he met Dr. Henry Samueli, his future business partner who also was a professor of engineering at UCLA. Nicholas later moved to PairGain Technologies in Cerritos, California, where he was director of Microelectronics. He left PairGain in 1991 to start Broadcom Corporation with Samueli.

Philanthropy

The Henry T. Nicholas, III, Foundation focuses on improving the quality of life through investments in education, youth sports, medicine, technology, law enforcement and national defense.

Criminal Justice & Victims' Rights

Nicholas’ sister was shot to death by her ex-boyfriend while Nicholas was in graduate school. He helped his parents—Robert and Marcella Leach--found Justice for Homicide Victims, Inc., a non-profit organization that supports families of murder victims. He was the 2005 recipient of the Ronald Reagan Award for Pioneering Achievement in Criminal Justice, and has been honored frequently by law enforcement organizations for his work supporting victims’ rights.

IIn 2004, California voters were considering Proposition 66, which would have weakened California’s Three Strikes Law. Ten days before the election, polls indicated it was going to pass by as much as 75% of the vote. Nicholas became involved, supporting a bipartisan coalition of elected officials including the living California Governors—Arnold Schwarzenegger, Gray Davis, Pete Wilson, Jerry Brown, and George Deukmejian—celebrities and grassroots organizations, and personally speaking in television and radio spots, recounting the tragedy in his own family. The ballot measure was narrowly defeated.

In 2009, he formed Marsy’s Law for All, following passage of the California Constitutional Amendment in November, 2008. Marsy’s Law for All is dedicated to building bridges among disparate victims’ rights organizations with the objective of enacting the 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would ensure victims’ rights for all Americans.

Education

Partnering with retired Orange County Superior Court Judge Jack Mandel, Nicholas in 2008 opened his first Nicholas Academic Center in downtown Santa Ana, California. Nicholas pledged $10 million over 20 years to the project. The centers provide a safe and nurturing school environment to help underprivileged students realize their educational goals. The second center opened in 2009 on the campus of Valley High School in Santa Ana. The first graduating class was comprised of 24 high school seniors who received scholarships to leading four-year colleges and universities, including UCLA, Allegheny College, Denison University, UC San Diego, UC Davis and Cal State Fullerton.

In 2004, Nicholas announced a $10-million gift to St. Margaret’s Episcopal School in Orange County and the formation of a partnership with UC Irvine’s engineering school to explore the application of technology to enhance learning. In addition, Nicholas provides St. Margaret scholarships to students from Santa Ana.

Nicholas also supports the Oakland Military Institute, founded by former-Gov. Jerry Brown , donated a new wing to the Mt. Olive School for middle-school aged girls in Kenya and is a donor to the Ocean Institute in Dana Point, California.

Technology

Nicholas has made major contributions to the engineering and computer science programs at the University of California, Irvine. He established The Nicholas Prize, administered by CalIT2 at UC Irvine, which recognizes innovative collaborative research.

He continues to support the UCI Center for Pervasive Communications and Computing and the Center for Embedded Computing Systems.

He has supported UCLA’s School of Engineering through Nicholas Endowment grants to its summer research program, as well as supporting the UCLA Astronomy Department’s Planetarium.

Episcopal Church

Nicholas has a close relationship with the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles and its Bishop J. Jon Bruno. The Nicholas Foundation has partnered with the Diocese to establish the Small Business Incubator in Pasadena. The Café and Incubator are project of the Episcopal Housing Alliance, a subsidiary of the Diocese.

Habitat for Humanity

Nicholas and his Foundation have been a strong supporter of Habitat for Humanity, helping to build Gordon’s House in honor of Rev. Gordon Yeaton, an Episcopal priest and Habitat for Humanity board member who died in 2007. The Foundation has also supported Habitat’s Homes for Heroes, a neighborhood in San Juan Capistrano for disabled veterans and surviving families of veterans who gave their lives in service.

National Defense

Nicholas established the first-ever American Heritage Bowl Game for Historically Black Colleges, co-sponsored by the Navy and Marine Corps. It was held in August 2007 at the stadium at Cal State Fullerton and broadcast worldwide on ESPN and armed forces networks.

Nicholas served as a member of the Homeland Security Advisory Commission in Southern California.

And as noted above, he also has supported “Habitat for Heroes” program.

The Arts

The Nicholas Endowment, Dr. Nicholas supports Opera Pacific and the Pacific Symphony , the South Coast Repertory, the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana and Orange County Performing Arts Center.

Music and Media

Nicholas has been instrumental in the success of a number of high-profile groups and artists, including Sublime, the Dirty Heads, Orgy/Julien-K, and Dead By Sunrise, Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington’s solo act.

Awards

During his tenure as Broadcom CEO Nicholas was the recipient of an Orange County Titan Award, the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award for Electronics, was named as one of the Top 20 Entrepreneurs by Red Herring magazine and one of the World’s Top 50 Cyber Elite by Time Digital Magazine.

Personal

Nicholas married in 1987; he and his former wife Stacey, a former electrical engineer, have three children, Brett, Matthew, and Shelby. Nicholas is now divorced and lives in Newport Coast, California.

Nicholas allegedly has been linked to drugs and alcohol abuse in the last decade. In April 2008, he voluntarily checked himself into a Betty Ford alcohol-rehabilitation program and completed treatment at Cliffside Malibu, as he struggled with divorce and the death of his stepfather.

After leaving Broadcom, Nicholas served as a Distinguished Adjunct Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of California, Irvine. He is currently retired.

Federal Investigations

In 2006, the federal government initiated a widespread probe into the then-popular corporate practice of stock options backdating.

More than two dozen executives at various companies were criminally charged, but with few resulting convictions.

Among the targets were senior executives at Broadcom. In June, 2008, Nicholas was indicted for felony drug, conspiracy, and securities fraud relating to the backdating of options at Broadcom Corporation. In December of 2009 the securities charges against Nicholas were thrown out. The judge ruled not only that no crime had been committed, but that prosecutors had “intimidated and improperly influenced” witnesses, “distorted the truth-finding process and compromised the integrity of the trial.” Judge Carney went on to say that “to submit this case to the jury would make a mockery” of the defendants’ constitutional rights.

On May 28, 2010, the U.S. Department of Justice dropped its appeal of Judge Carney’s dismissal of the stock option backdating charges. According to the Los Angeles Times:

“The decision brought to a close a two-year legal battle between the billionaire executives and the Justice Department.

“Late Friday, Nicholas released a statement that said, ‘The decision by the Department of Justice reconfirms my faith in our criminal justice system.’

“In December, U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney dismissed the charges against Samueli and Nicholas, accusing prosecutors of a "shameful" campaign to intimidate witnesses and obtain unjustified convictions.”

Judge Carney, at the time of his December, 2009 ruling, also demanded that the U.S. Attorney’s office in Santa Ana “show cause…why the drug indictment against Dr. Nicholas should not be dismissed.” The next month the government moved to dismiss the drug charges. The judge in December, 2009, also dismissed a civil lawsuit that the Securities and Exchange Commission had filed against Broadcom executives, wiping away misconduct allegations that had plagued the Irvine-based microchip giant for years.