Ken Xie
Speaking at the 2021 World Economic Forum
Born1963 (age 60–61)
Beijing, China
CitizenshipAmerican
EducationTsinghua University
Stanford University
Known forCo-founder of Fortinet and NetScreen
TitleCEO and chairman, Fortinet
ChildrenJaime Xie
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese謝青
Simplified Chinese谢青

Ken Xie (Chinese: 谢青; pinyin: Xiè Qīng) is an American billionaire businessman who founded Systems Integration Solutions (SIS), NetScreen, and Fortinet.

He is CEO of Fortinet, a cybersecurity firm based in Silicon Valley. Xie was previously the CEO of NetScreen, which was acquired by Juniper Networks for $4 billion in 2004. He built the first ASIC-based firewall/VPN appliance in 1996.[1]

Early life

Xie was born and raised in China.[2] He graduated from Tsinghua University with a B.S. and M.S. in electrical engineering,[2][3] and from Stanford University with an M.S. in electrical engineering.

Career

In 1993, Xie founded a network security company, Systems Integration Solutions (SIS).[4] Xie built the first ASIC-based firewall/VPN appliance in 1996, in his garage in Palo Alto, California.[1] That same year he founded NetScreen Technologies, an online security firm, with Yan Ke and Feng Deng.[4][5] NetScreen Technologies was later acquired by Juniper Networks Inc. for $4 billion.

Fortinet

In 2000, Xie left NetScreen to create Fortinet with his brother Michael Xie, an electrical engineer.[6] Since then, Ken Xie has served as Fortinet's CEO, while Michael Xie is president and chief technology officer.[6][7] Xie has stated that he founded Fortinet because he believed that security must be embedded in the end-to-end computing and networking infrastructure.[8] The Xie brothers launched the initial FortiGate products in May 2002.[9] Xie has led Fortinet to acquire security monitoring firm AccelOps, endpoint security firm enSilo, SOAR platform provider CyberSponse,[10][11][12] and the IoT-focused security firm Bradford Networks.[13]

In January 2019, Xie was a discussion leader for the Centre for Cybersecurity’s cyber workforce session at Davos’ World Economic Forum (WEF) summit.[14] In February 2020, Ken Xie spoke at the RSA conference in San Francisco about the importance of SD-WAN, edge computing, and automation.[15] Xie is a founding member and a member of the board of directors of the Cyber Threat Alliance.[16][17]

Personal life

Xie is married and lives in Los Altos Hills, California.[18] He is the father of Jaime Xie, a fashion influencer and star on the Netflix reality TV series Bling Empire.[19] In September 2020, Xie joined the Forbes 400 list.[20]

Xie was made a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 2013.[21]

Private foundation

Xie runs a private foundation, along with his brother. Since 2009, Xie has had more than $30 million in income tax deductions by contributing shares of Fortinet to this private foundation.[22] In 2017, the private foundation spent $3 million on a home in Cupertino, California which Xie and his then-girlfriend lived in.[22] In January 2020, the house was transferred from the foundation to a LLC

References

  1. 1 2 Taulli, Tom (February 6, 2012). "The Man Who Made Two Multibillion-Dollar Companies". Forbes. Retrieved July 27, 2017.
  2. 1 2 Villano, Matt (October 15, 2004). "Ken Xie". CRN. Archived from the original on January 5, 2013. Retrieved March 30, 2018.
  3. ↑ "Faculty Member and Alumni Elected to NAS, AAAS and NAE" (PDF). Tsinghua Newsletter. No. 23. Tsinghua University. May 2013. Retrieved February 4, 2018.
  4. 1 2 Stupples, Benjamin (February 7, 2019). "Silicon Cyber-Security Fortunes". Bloomberg.
  5. ↑ Garcia, Arturo (August 20, 2017). "CEO Spotlight: Fortinet's Ken Xie". Born2Invest. Retrieved April 4, 2019.
  6. 1 2 "Silicon Valley Brothers Build Billion Dollar Cyber-Security Fortunes". Bloomberg.com. February 7, 2019. Retrieved November 19, 2020.
  7. ↑ "Reinvent Yourself And Make Billions? Fortinet CEO Shows You How". Investor's Business Daily. October 17, 2019. Retrieved November 19, 2020.
  8. ↑ Woods, Dan. "Cybersecurity's Future: Powered by Hardware". Forbes. Retrieved April 25, 2019.
  9. ↑ Gundry, Lisa K.; Kickul, Jill R. (August 14, 2006). Entrepreneurship Strategy: Changing Patterns in New Venture Creation, Growth, and Reinvention. SAGE Publications. ISBN 9781483316857.
  10. ↑ "Fortinet Acquires Security Monitoring Firm AccelOps | SecurityWeek.Com". www.securityweek.com. June 7, 2016. Retrieved November 19, 2020.
  11. ↑ "Fortinet Acquires Endpoint Security Firm enSilo | SecurityWeek.Com". www.securityweek.com. October 28, 2019. Retrieved November 19, 2020.
  12. ↑ "Fortinet Acquires SOAR Platform Provider CyberSponse | SecurityWeek.Com". www.securityweek.com. December 13, 2019. Retrieved November 19, 2020.
  13. ↑ "Fortinet Acquires Bradford Networks to Extend Security to the Edge | SecurityWeek.Com". www.securityweek.com. June 5, 2018. Retrieved April 25, 2019.
  14. ↑ "Fortinet to lead cyber security discussion at WEF annual summit". ComputerWeekly.com. Retrieved April 25, 2019.
  15. ↑ "Fortinet CEO: SD-WAN, Edge, Automation Key to Next-Gen Security - SDxCentral". SDxCentral. February 28, 2020. Retrieved November 19, 2020.
  16. ↑ Taylor, Harriet (January 15, 2015). "Security firms forge alliance to fight growing cyber threat". CNBC. Retrieved November 19, 2020.
  17. ↑ "Cyber Threat Alliance grows to six founding members; introduces Mike Daniel as president". SC Media. February 13, 2017. Retrieved November 19, 2020.
  18. ↑ "Forbes profile: Ken Xie". Forbes. Retrieved February 5, 2021.
  19. ↑ Davis, Dominic-Madori. "Inside the world of 'Bling Empire's' Jaime Xie, the tech heiress forging her own path as a fashion influencer". Business Insider. Retrieved January 28, 2021.
  20. ↑ Tognini, Giacomo. "Newcomers: These 18 Billionaires Join The Forbes 400 List In 2020". Forbes. Retrieved November 19, 2020.
  21. ↑ "Mr. Ken Q. Xie". National Academy of Engineering Member Listings. NAE.edu.
  22. 1 2 Ernsthausen, Jeff (July 26, 2023). "How the Ultrawealthy Use Private Foundations to Bank Millions in Tax Deductions While Giving the Public Little in Return". ProPublica.
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