HIGHEST HONOR: Princeton-raised Dan Schulman was knighted in Paris last month by French President Emmanuel Macron for his contributions to social and economic change. From left are Schulman’s wife, Summerly Schulman; his mother, Ruth Schulman; Macron; and Schulman. (Photo courtesy of Dan Schulman)

By Anne Levin

During his tenure as CEO and president of the financial technology giant PayPal, Dan Schulman was shocked to discover that 70 percent of Americans have a hard time making ends meet.

Schulman, who was raised in Princeton and is a product of the town’s public schools, was even more surprised to learn that over half of his employees — who were paid above market rates — were among those struggling.

It was that realization, and what he did about it, that led to Schulman being honored as a Knight of the Legion of Honor by French President Emmanuel Macron at a ceremony in Paris last month. In front of some 75 officials, family members, and friends, Schulman, who is 66, received the accolade at a ceremony at the Élysée Palace.

“The ceremony is quite striking,” Schulman said during a phone interview last week. “President Macron spoke for about 15 minutes. It was quite beautiful, mostly about the power of leadership and what business leadership can be in trying to drive positive change.”

What Schulman did to help his employees was raise salaries, slash health care benefit costs, and give them restricted stock so they could have ownership in the company. He also reached outside PayPal to create positive change.

He formed “a set of values where we respect everybody,” Schulman said. “We weren’t trying to be red or blue, but be red, white, and blue. We decided this idea of embracing inclusion would guide our values. That’s where we put $500 million to reduce the racial wealth gap, and $100 million to help empower women and girls around the world.”

In 2016, after North Carolina passed the bathroom bill banning school kids from using bathrooms for genders different from their birth certificates, Schulman withdrew plans to establish an operation center in the state. He began to get death threats.

Social responsibility is nothing new to Schulman, who was raised in a family of activists. “I was born in Newark. Before moving to Princeton, we lived in New Brunswick, in a fully integrated neighborhood,” he said. “My mother pushed me in a baby carriage at Martin Luther King walks in Washington. My dad always said I was the youngest kid to have a picture in an FBI file.”

Schulman’s grandfather was a union organizer who “got beat up,” he said. “I just kind of grew up with that sensibility. I think just standing up for things was always a part of what we did in our family — not in a heroic way; I don’t want to over-emphasize it — just trying to do the right thing within a context of cultures.”

Schulman also credits his youth in Princeton with shaping his views.

“It’s where I sort of defined myself,” he said. “It’s where I started understanding a little bit about what it meant to be a leader. I was captain of several sports teams at Princeton High School, and was quarterback of the football team. These are positions of leadership. They shape you, subtly, as a kid. You never know what they will lead up to. One thing leads to another. As you look back, you can see some of those linkages. Clearly, sports and my time at Princeton High, where I was also Homecoming King, were formative times. I don’t know if they shaped what came ahead, but they were clearly defining in my growing up.”

Before PayPal, from which Schulman retired a year ago, he served in major leadership roles at AT&T, American Express, and Priceline. He helped launch Virgin Mobile with Sir Richard Branson shortly after the September 11 terrorist attacks. He continues to serve on several boards including Lazard, Verizon, and the Cleveland Clinic.

“I think the private sector plays a really important role,” he said. “That’s been my driving philosophy since I started working with Branson. That’s probably what President Macron saw when he decided to knight me into the French Legion of Honor.”

The ceremony in Paris last month was followed by a dinner given by Lazard. Among those attending all of the festivities was his mother, Princeton resident Ruth Schulman, who is 90 years old but was determined not to miss a minute. Until her retirement, she was the associate dean of Rutgers’ Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology.

“She is a warrior,” Schulman said. “She’s battling various things. I told her, ‘Mom, this is happening in Paris. It’s very cool, but I know you can’t be there.’ She said, ‘Of course I’m going to be there!’ It wasn’t even a question. That was it. I love her.”