Gary Kovacs

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Gary Kovacs
Gary Kovacs at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Tianjin, China, 2012..jpg
Kovacs at the 2012 World Economic Forum
Born1963or1964(age 60–61) [1]
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Alma materUniversity of Calgary, Haskayne School of Business
Occupationbusiness executive (retired) [2]

Gary Kovacs (born 1963 or 1964) [1] is an American technologist and corporate executive. [3] [4] He has been the chief executive officer of Mozilla Corporation, AVG Technologies, and Accela. He has also worked for a number of technology companies in the San Francisco Bay Area including Adobe, SAP, IBM, and Zi Corporation. [4] [5]

Contents

Early life and education

Kovacs was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, to Ruby (né Kiraly) and Janos (John) Kovacs. Kovacs's father was a Hungarian refugee who fled to Canada in 1956. [4]

Kovacs attended the University of Calgary's Haskayne School of Business, earning a BComm in 1990 and an MBA in 1999. [6]

In addition to his undergraduate and graduate business degrees, Kovacs is a certified communications electronics technologist. [7]

Career

Kovacs joined IBM in 1990, where he eventually became Worldwide Program Director for the software division, based in New York. [8] [5] After 10 years at IBM, Kovacs became President of Zi Corporation, a company that pioneered predictive text, among other mobile search and text input solutions. [4] [9]

Kovacs moved to Macromedia in 2003, working as Vice President of Product Marketing. When Adobe acquired Macromedia in 2005, Kovacs became vice president and general manager of product management and marketing for Adobe's mobile and devices division [5] and became to General Manager of the division in 2008. [10] From 2009 to 2010, Kovacs served as Senior Vice President of Markets, Solutions, and Products at Sybase, through its acquisition by SAP. [5]

In 2010, Mozilla the parent organization of the Firefox web browser selected Kovacs to replace former CEO John Lilly. [5] During Kovacs' tenure Mozilla expanded into the mobile market with the launch of Firefox OS, its open mobile operating system. [11] Kovacs previewed Firefox OS at Mobile World Congress 2013, garnering commitments from 18 major worldwide mobile operators. [12] However, Firefox OS proved to be a failure and was discontinued by Mozilla after Kovacs's departure. [13]

In 2012, he gave a TED talk, "Tracking the Trackers", explores issues of Internet privacy in an increasingly connected world. [14] At the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting of the New Champions in 2012, he presented on strategies for creating a resilient cyber economy amid economic, security, and privacy obstacles. [15] He was a keynote speaker at the Mobile World Congress 2013. [16]

In April 2013 Mozilla announced that he would step down as CEO of the corporation later that year [17] and until March 2014 he was part of Mozilla's board of directors. [18]

On July 30, 2013, Kovacs joined [19] AVG Technologies as CEO. In September 2016, AVG Technologies was acquired by Avast Software for US$1.3B. [20] Kovacs employment with AVG Technologies was terminated in December 2016 In April 2017, Kovacs filed a complaint in the San Francisco County Superior Court against AVG Technologies USA Inc. and Does 1-50 alleging breach of contract, wrongful termination and other counts. The suit states the defendants fabricated a sham reason to terminate the plaintiff's employment and terminated him in December 2016, allegedly to avoid paying him his severance, bonus and other amounts due to him. [21]

On Dec. 11, 2018, Kovacs was appointed as CEO [22] of Accela. [23]

Personal life

Raised by Hungarian parents in Toronto, Kovacs began experimenting with technology at a young age. Though grateful for the opportunities and education provided by his native Canada, his interest in innovation drew him to the San Francisco Bay Area. [4]

He now[ as of? ] lives in Piedmont, California. [24]

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References

  1. 1 2 van Wageningen, Ellen (31 January 2014). "Web's impact 'mind-boggling,' leadership forum told". The Windsor Star . Kovacs, 50
  2. ↑ https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/accela-appoints-noam-reininger-as-new-ceo-to-drive-next-phase-of-innovation-302034086.html
  3. ↑ Kovacs, Gary. "Gary Kovacs | Speaker | TED". www.ted.com.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Alec, Scott. "Lessons from Canada's Silicon Valley diaspora.” The Globe and Mail. Published 23 February 2012. Retrieved 24 November 2012.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Prior, Shannon. "Introducing our new CEO: Gary Kovacs." Mozilla Blog. Published 14 October 2010. Retrieved 31 May 2012.
  6. ↑ “Keep in touch.” Archived 2013-04-07 at archive.today U Magazine. Published May 2006. Retrieved 18 February 2013.
  7. ↑ “Electronics analysis: Gary Kovacs – Zi Corporation.” The Wall Street Transcript. Published 11 February 2002. Retrieved 18 February 2013.
  8. ↑ The Wall Street Transcript 2002.
  9. ↑ “Nuance to acquire Zi Corporation.” Archived 2012-09-05 at the Wayback Machine Nuance.com. Published 26 February 2009. Retrieved 18 February 2013.
  10. ↑ von Fuchs, Teresa. "Adobe announces restructuring." Archived 2014-10-26 at the Wayback Machine Wireless Week. Published 8 April 2008. Retrieved 18 February 2013.
  11. ↑ Moody, Glyn. “Mozilla’s big comeback.” Archived 2012-11-16 at the Wayback Machine Computer World UK. Published 14 November 2012. Retrieved 18 February 2013.
  12. ↑ Mozilla Press Center. "Mozilla Announces Global Expansion for Firefox OS." Mozilla Blog. Published 24 February 2013. Retrieved 7 March 2013.
  13. ↑
  14. ↑ Kovacs, Gary. “Gary Kovacs: tracking the trackers” [video file]. TED. Published February 2012. Retrieved 18 February 2013.
  15. ↑ “Creating a resilient cyber economy.” World Economic Forum. Retrieved 18 February 2013.
  16. ↑ “Keynote speakers.” Archived 2013-03-08 at the Wayback Machine Mobile World Congress 2013. Retrieved 18 February 2013.
  17. ↑ "Mozilla Makes Leadership Changes: CEO Gary Kovacs To Step Down Later This Year, Mitchell Baker Becomes Executive Chair". TechCrunch.
  18. ↑ Barr, Alistair (28 March 2014). "Three Mozilla Board Members Resign over Choice of New CEO". WSJ.
  19. ↑ "AVG Press Center | for Journalists, Bloggers & Partners".
  20. ↑ “Avast and AVG become one” Avast Blog. Retrieved 21 May 2017.
  21. ↑ “Former AVG Technologies USA Inc. CEO alleges he was wrongfully terminated.” Norcal Record. Retrieved 21 May 2017.
  22. ↑ "Accela Announces Experienced Technology Leader Gary Kovacs as CEO". www.berkshirepartners.com. 11 December 2018. Retrieved 2019-01-02.
  23. ↑ "Accela Announces Experienced Technology Leader Gary Kovacs as CEO". Accela. Retrieved 2019-01-02.
  24. ↑ “Gary Kovacs.” CrowdRise.com. Retrieved 7 March 2013.
Preceded by CEO of Mozilla Corporation
8 November 2010 – March 2014		Succeeded by
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