Charles William Ergen better known as Charlie Ergen (born 1953) is the former co-founder, and Chairman of the Board, President and CEO of the Dish Network

Dish Network

Dish Network Corporation is the second largest pay TV provider in the United States, providing direct broadcast satellite service—including satellite television, audio programming, and interactive television services—to 14.337 million commercial and residential customers in the United States. Dish...

, formerly known as the EchoStar Communications Corporation. He stepped down in May 2011.

Biography

Charles Ergen was born in Oak Ridge, Tennessee

Oak Ridge, Tennessee

Oak Ridge is a city in Anderson and Roane counties in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Tennessee, about west of Knoxville. Oak Ridge's population was 27,387 at the 2000 census...

, on March 1, 1953. He received a Bachelor of Arts the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, and an M.B.A. Wake Forest University

Wake Forest University

Wake Forest University is a private, coeducational university in the U.S. state of North Carolina, founded in 1834. The university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina, the state capital. The Reynolda Campus, the university's main campus, is...

. He was a blackjack

Blackjack

Blackjack, also known as Twenty-one or Vingt-et-un , is the most widely played casino banking game in the world...

 and poker

Poker

Poker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown , limits on bet sizes, and how many rounds of betting are allowed.In most modern poker...

 professional player.

In 1980, he founded EchoStar with his wife Cantey ("Candy"), and friend Jim DeFranco. He started selling satellite dishes door to door in Colorado

Colorado

Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

. Both Cantey Ergen and Jim DeFranco still sit on EchoStar's eight-member board. He purchased Sling Media

Sling Media

Sling Media Inc. specializes in audio and video placeshifting technology. The company is a subsidiary of EchoStar Corporation and is based in San Mateo, California...

 in 2008.

He is worth US$6.4 billion. He is the 46th richest American citizen. He supported John McCain

John McCain

John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....

 in the 2008 presidential election

United States presidential election, 2008

The United States presidential election of 2008 was the 56th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on November 4, 2008. Democrat Barack Obama, then the junior United States Senator from Illinois, defeated Republican John McCain, the senior U.S. Senator from Arizona. Obama received 365...

.

He is married with five children. He lives in Littleton, Colorado

Littleton, Colorado

Littleton is a Home Rule Municipality contained in Arapahoe, Douglas, and Jefferson counties in the U.S. state of Colorado. Littleton is a suburb of the Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Statistical Area. Littleton is the county seat of Arapahoe County and the 20th most populous city in the state of...

.