Who Are Elizabeth Holmes' Parents? All About the Disgraced Theranos Founder's Dad Christian and Mom Noel

Mar. 15, 2025

Former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes arrives at federal court with mother Noel Holmes and father Christian Holmes on September 1, 2022 in San Jose, California.Photo:Justin Sullivan/Getty

Justin Sullivan/Getty

Elizabeth Holmes’ parents, Christian and Noel Anne Holmes, encouraged their daughter to achieve greatness — but she ended up making history for all the wrong reasons.

The Theranos foundermay now be behind barsfor a scheme that duped investors out of millions, but as a child, she aspired to change the world. Her father held roles in the field of humanitarian assistance and environmental protection, which inspired her career goals.

Speaking toFortunein 2014, Christian explained that although his work meant that they had to move several times, Elizabeth was resilient and set her eyes on innovation. In response, Christian and Noel fostered that spark, supporting Elizabeth’s different ambitions.

After getting charged with three counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in 2022, Elizabeth wassentenced to over 11 yearsin federal prison. It has since been reduced to nine years for good behavior, with a release scheduled for 2032, and she has an idea of what she wants to do when she’s free.

Here’s everything to know about Elizabeth Holmes’ parents, Christian and Noel Anne Holmes.

Christian is a descendant of the Fleischmann Yeast fortune

Elizabeth Holmes, her father Christian Holmes IV, mother Noel Holmes and Billy Evans head to court on March 17, 2023 in San Jose, California.Philip Pacheco/Getty

Philip Pacheco/Getty

Elizabeth’s father, Christian, came from a prominent background. His great-grandfather, also named Christian Holmes, emigrated to the United States from Denmark as a young man. He settled in Cincinnati, where he studied engineering and eventually became a physician, perThe New Yorker.

While working in a local hospital, Dr. Holmes met a patient named Charles Fleischmann, who had built a baking empire selling packaged yeast. Dr. Holmes went on to marry Charles’ daughter, Bettie Fleischmann, and the pair achieved success and wealth.

“I grew up with those stories about greatness and about people deciding not to spend their lives on something purposeful, and what happens to them when they make that choice — the impact on character and quality of life,” Elizabeth toldThe New Yorkerin 2014.

Christian was once an executive at Enron

Former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes hugs father Christian Holmes IV following a hearing at the Robert E. Peckham U.S. Courthouse on March 17, 2023 in San Jose, California.Philip Pacheco/Getty

Christian grew up in California and graduated from The Webb Schools. He went on to attend Wesleyan University, where he studied political science and government, perBad Blood.

Early in his career, he served as a second lieutenant of civil affairs in the Army Reserves before getting involved in government work, according tohis LinkedIn. In addition to holding different roles at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Christian worked for the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Several other career moves prompted the family to move, with Christian eventually landing a job at Enron, an electric and gas company valued at over $100 billion at the time. But while serving as a vice president in a division of the company, the business wasexposed for accounting fraud, which eventually led them to file for bankruptcy.

Although the Holmes family briefly fell on hard times, perBad Blood, Christian was later hired at Rice University and the World Wildlife Fund before returning to USAID for a few years. Christian now works atThe Boston Consulting Group, where he focuses on the “performance of water and wastewater utilities.”

Noel worked for the government before welcoming Elizabeth

Elizabeth Holmes and her mother Noel Holmes enter the courthouse for her sentencing hearing on November 18, 2022 in San Jose, California.Amy Osborne / AFP

Amy Osborne / AFP

Before becoming a mother to Elizabeth and her brother Christian, Noel worked for the government.

According toThe New Yorker, she served as a foreign policy and defense aide on Capitol Hill, where she reportedly met her husband.

After they married and welcomed their children, Noel stepped away from her career to raise their family full-time.

Elizabeth grew up seeing her father’s humanitarian work

Elizabeth Holmes.HBO

“My father worked in disaster relief and so I grew up in a house that had pictures of all these little children in really tough parts of the world. I was absolutely convinced that was what I was going to do,” she toldCNNin 2014.

She continued, “Then when I started realizing that a company could be a vehicle for having very direct impact over a change that you are trying to make, I started thinking about the concept of what could I build that could impact a lot of peoples’ lives?”

Christian’s career also motivated Elizabeth to learn Mandarin, which helped her gain early entrance to Stanford University, perThe New Yorker.

In the 1980s, Christian’s job brought him to China for two weeks every month, and Elizabeth started studying Mandarin with her parents' encouragement. Fast forward to the summer after her sophomore year of high school, she convinced Stanford to allow her to take college-level language classes.

By the time she graduated high school, she had completed three years of Mandarin at Stanford and enrolled full-time at the university — where she eventually founded Theranos.

Christian and Noel supported Elizabeth dropping out of Stanford

Elizabeth Holmes alongside father Christian Holmes IV, mother Noel Holmes and Billy Evans on March 17, 2023 in San Jose, California.Philip Pacheco/Getty

Elizabeth spent just one year at Stanford before deciding to drop out to focus on founding her company.

According toFortune, she spent the summer after her freshman year interning at the Genome Institute of Singapore, and when she returned home, she became determined to innovate the industry.

“I saw her sit down at the computer, and for five to six days she barely got up. I would bring her food occasionally, and she slept maybe one or two hours a night for five nights,” Noel told the outlet.

Although Christian hoped his daughter would achieve a PhD, he and Noel supported Elizabeth leaving school.

“What do you want for your children? You want them to do something they’re passionate about. To follow their dream. To help people. To change the world. So we said, ‘Of course. Go do this,’ ” Noel explained.

Christian and Noel were early supporters of Theranos

Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes in an interview on September 29, 2015.David Orrell/CNBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images

Although Christian and Noel didn’t fully understand the details of what their daughter wanted to accomplish with her blood-testing company, they allowed her to take the money they had saved for her college education and invest it into her business, perFortune.

Elizabeth went on to use that money to fund the early days of Theranos as well as her family’s connections to find other investors for the company.

Elizabeth Holmes with her mother Noel Holmes before her trial at the Robert F. Peckham Federal Building on November 17, 2021 in San Jose, California.Justin Sullivan/Getty

Over a decade after Elizabeth dropped out of Stanford, her healthcare startup Theranos had evolved into a billion-dollar company. With the promise of technology that could run hundreds of medical tests using only a few drops of blood, Elizabeth raised millions of dollars from investors.

But behind the scenes, everything was not as it seemed. By 2015, whistleblowers had brought attention to howthe company was misleading patients and physiciansabout the efficacy of the company’s blood tests — an “elaborate years-long” fraud that duped investors out of millions.

In the spring of 2018, Elizabeth and her former company president,Sunny Balwani, were charged with wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud at Theranos. Elizabeth was convicted of four of the 11 charges for defrauding investors while Balwani was convicted on all 10 counts of wire fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

They have visited Elizabeth in prison

Elizabeth Holmes leaves federal court in San Jose on October 2, 2019.Michael Short/Bloomberg/Getty

Michael Short/Bloomberg/Getty

While Christian and Noel have maintained a low profile since their daughter entered prison, they were spottedspending time together during a visitors’ dayat Federal Prison Camp Bryan in Texas in June 2023.

Elizabeth’s parents, as well as herpartner, Billy Evans, were photographed at the facility, walking through the prison yard and talking at a picnic table.

Her parents have since visited on other occasions, including Elizabeth’s 40th birthday in 2024.

source: people.com