Min Kao

Min H. Kao (simplified Chinese: 高民环; traditional Chinese: 高民環; pinyin: Gāo Mínhuán) is an American businessman. He is the co-founder of Garmin Corporation with Gary Burrell. As of May 2015, his personal wealth was estimated at $2.6 billion.

Early life

Min H. Kao was born in 1949 in a small town in Taiwan called Jhushan in Nantou. He attended college in Taiwan and received his doctorate in the US.

Career

Before founding Garmin, Min Kao served as a systems analyst at Teledyne Systems. Min Kao graduated from National Taiwan University with a bachelor's degree, then studied at the University of Tennessee, where he earned his master's and PhD degrees in electrical engineering and was involved in research for NASA and the U.S. Army.

In 2005, Kao gave $17.5 million to the College of Engineering of the University of Tennessee, $12.5 million of which was designated for the construction of a new facility. In May 2007, groundbreaking ceremonies were conducted for the new Min Kao Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Building. The building was dedicated in March 2012.