Michael Solomon

Michael D. Solomon was named Kent State University's first National Trustee in December of 2011. The Kent State University Board of Trustees established the National Trustee position in September 2010 in recognition of the fact that Kent State executes its teaching, research and service missions at the state, national and international levels. Since graduating with a Kent State business degree in 1974, Solomon has been involved in early stage technology companies and emerging growth companies as an entrepreneur, investor, senior manager and board member. Early in his career, he was the youngest of Apple Computer's independent representative firms from 1980 to 1984, the period when Apple grew from $100 million to $1.4 billion in annual sales. In 1985, he became the original vice president of sales and marketing with Aldus Corporation in Seattle, which launched the desktop publishing industry through its PageMaker software. Solomon moved to the San Francisco Bay area in 1990 and has since provided leadership in various ways to numerous companies and ventures including Telocity, Flycast, and eShop. From 2005 to 2010, he served as CEO of Audyssey Laboratories of Los Angeles, a spin-off company of the University of South California. He took the business from inception to a successful audio licensing company with business relationships that include some of the worlds largest consumer electronics companies and automotive manufacturers. He also conceived the company's first consumer audio product, The Audyssey Dock, available today in Apple stores worldwide. In 2010, Solomon started his latest company, XYZ Color Science, Inc., which seeks to revolutionize the way color is displayed on all types of display devices. Michael Solomon has maintained strong ties to his alma mater. In 2001, he endowed the Michael D. Solomon Entrpreneurship Speaker Series at Kent State's College of Business Administration. The speaker series brings experienced entrepreneurs on campus each semester to share their insights and wisdom with students.