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Ken Xie

Ken Xie is a Chinese 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.

Early life

Xie was born and raised in China.[1] He graduated from Tsinghua University with a B.S. and M.S. in electrical engineering,[1][2] and from Stanford University with an M.S. in electrical engineering.

Career

In 1993, Xie founded a network security company, Systems Integration Solutions (SIS).[3] Xie built the first ASIC-based firewall/VPN appliance in 1996, in his garage in Palo Alto, California.[4] That same year he founded NetScreen Technologies, an online security firm, with Yan Ke and Feng Deng.[3][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. Matt Villano. Ken Xie CRN, 15 October 2004, retrieved 30 March 2018^
  2. Faculty Member and Alumni Elected to NAS, AAAS and NAE Tsinghua Newsletter, Tsinghua University, May 2013, retrieved 4 February 2018^
  3. Benjamin Stupples. Silicon Cyber-Security Fortunes Bloomberg, February 7, 2019^
  4. Tom Taulli. The Man Who Made Two Multibillion-Dollar Companies Forbes, 6 February 2012, retrieved 27 July 2017^
  5. Arturo Garcia. CEO Spotlight: Fortinet's Ken Xie Born2Invest, 2017-08-20, retrieved 2019-04-04^
  6. Silicon Valley Brothers Build Billion Dollar Cyber-Security Fortunes Bloomberg.com, 2019-02-07, retrieved 2020-11-19^
  7. Reinvent Yourself And Make Billions? Fortinet CEO Shows You How Investor's Business Daily, 2019-10-17, retrieved 2020-11-19^
  8. Dan Woods. Cybersecurity's Future: Powered by Hardware Forbes, retrieved 2019-04-25^
  9. Lisa K. Gundry, Jill R. Kickul. Entrepreneurship Strategy: Changing Patterns in New Venture Creation, Growth, and Reinvention SAGE Publications, 2006-08-14^
  10. Fortinet Acquires Security Monitoring Firm AccelOps www.securityweek.com, 7 June 2016, retrieved 2020-11-19^
  11. Fortinet Acquires Endpoint Security Firm enSilo www.securityweek.com, 28 October 2019, retrieved 2020-11-19^
  12. Fortinet Acquires SOAR Platform Provider CyberSponse www.securityweek.com, 13 December 2019, retrieved 2020-11-19^
  13. Fortinet Acquires Bradford Networks to Extend Security to the Edge www.securityweek.com, 5 June 2018, retrieved 2019-04-25^
  14. Fortinet to lead cyber security discussion at WEF annual summit ComputerWeekly.com, retrieved 2019-04-25^
  15. Fortinet CEO: SD-WAN, Edge, Automation Key to Next-Gen Security - SDxCentral SDxCentral, 2020-02-28, retrieved 2020-11-19^
  16. Harriet Taylor. Security firms forge alliance to fight growing cyber threat CNBC, 2015-01-15, retrieved 2020-11-19^
  17. Cyber Threat Alliance grows to six founding members; introduces Mike Daniel as president SC Media, 2017-02-13, retrieved 2020-11-19^
  18. Forbes profile: Ken Xie Forbes, retrieved 5 February 2021^
  19. Dominic-Madori Davis. Inside the world of 'Bling Empire's' Jaime Xie, the tech heiress forging her own path as a fashion influencer Business Insider, retrieved 2021-01-28^
  20. Giacomo Tognini. Newcomers: These 18 Billionaires Join The Forbes 400 List In 2020 Forbes, retrieved 2020-11-19^
  21. Mr. Ken Q. Xie National Academy of Engineering Member Listings, NAE.edu^
  22. Jeff Ernsthausen. How the Ultrawealthy Use Private Foundations to Bank Millions in Tax Deductions While Giving the Public Little in Return ProPublica, 2023-07-26^