Jay Chaudhry

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Jay Chaudhry
Jay Chaudhry.png
Born1958 (age 6667) [1]
Una, Punjab, India (now in Himachal Pradesh)
CitizenshipAmerican[ citation needed ]
Education
Occupation(s)Chairman, CEO & founder of Zscaler
SpouseJyoti Chaudhry
Children3
Website https://www.zscaler.com/company/leadership/jay-chaudhry

Jay Chaudhry [2] (born August 26, 1958) [3] is an Indian-American technology entrepreneur and the CEO and founder of cloud security company Zscaler.

Contents

Early life and education

Chaudhry was born in Panoh, a village in the Una district of Punjab (now Himachal Pradesh), India with a population of 800. [4] The village did not have running water or electricity until he was a teenager. [5] His parents, Bhagat and Surjeet Chaudhry, were small-scale farmers, and he was the youngest of three sons. [6]

In an interview, Jay recalled that he used to walk nearly 4 km every day to attend high school in Dhusara, the neighboring village and, because there was no electricity, he often studied outside under a tree. [7]

Following the completion of high school, he earned a bachelor's degree in electronics engineering from Indian Institute Of Technology, Banaras Hindu University. [8]

In 1980, at age 22, he moved to the United States to attend the University of Cincinnati. [9] His first time on a plane was his flight to the U.S. to attend the University of Cincinnati, where he received master's degrees in industrial engineering, computer engineering, and marketing. [10] [11]  

He also completed the executive management program at Harvard Business School. [12] [13]

Career

Chaudhry started out working in engineering, sales, marketing and management at IBM, Unisys, and NCR. [14] He went on to become the founder of five security software startups. [15] [16]  

SecureIT (1996–1998)

In 1996, he and his wife Jyoti founded Internet security service SecureIT, using their life savings to do so. [17] After SecureIT was acquired by Verisign in 1998, Chaudhry moved to San Francisco to lead Verisign’s security services division. [18] He left Verisign in 1999. [19]

CipherTrust and CoreHarbor (2000–2006)

In 2000, Chaudhry launched email security company CipherTrust. The idea for CipherTrust came from his work at SecureIT, where he became familiar with the types of security issues, vulnerabilities and attacks that were possible. The technology was built from scratch and was later acquired by Secure Computing Corporation in 2006 for $274 million. [20] [21] [22] [23]

In 2000, Chaudhry also launched CoreHarbor, a managed e-commerce platform. It was later acquired by USi/AT&T. [24] [25]

AirDefense (2002–2008)

In 2002, Chaudhry launched wireless security company AirDefense, which operates as a provider of a wireless intrusion prevention system that monitors airwaves and traffic between laptops and WiFi access points. AirDefense was acquired by Motorola in 2008. [26] [27] [28]  

Zscaler (2007–present)

Chaudhry founded Zscaler, a Zero Trust cloud security company, in 2007. [29] [30] His goal was to build the Salesforce of cloud security, inspired by Marc Benioff. [31]

Recognitions

Jay is the recipient of three awards by Indian Institute of Technology (Banaras Hindu University), Varanasi: Alumnus of the Year (2015), Alumnus of the Century in Making (2019), the Distinguished Alumnus/Alumna Awards (2021–22), and the American India Foundation’s Corporate Leadership Award (2022). [32]

In 2018, Jay was selected as a finalist for the EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award program in Northern California.

Personal life

Chaudhry and his wife, Jyoti, have three children and live in Reno, Nevada, U.S. Chaudhry is a vegetarian. [33]

Jay loves to hike, white-water raft and go on “bonding walks” around his neighborhood with his family. Jay is a voracious reader and he particularly favors books on history, global politics and psychology. [34]

Philanthropy

Jay makes regular trips to Panoh, India, to help the community. In 2011, he arranged for a mobile medical lab to give older residents blood tests and other checkups. [35]

In 2022, Jay gifted $1 million to his alma mater, IIT-BHU, to fund the school’s Entrepreneurship Center and its Software Innovation Center. [36] That year, he also donated $3 million to the Bay Area Chapter of the American India Foundation (AIF), an organization committed to improving the lives of India’s underprivileged, to support COVID relief efforts. [37]

In 2023, he donated $1 million to the Sankara Eye Foundation, an organization whose mission is to eradicate curable blindness in India. [38]

References

  1. "Forbes profile: Jay Chaudhry". Forbes. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  2. Lamare, Amy (2022-02-14). "Zscaler founder Jay Chaudhry grew up in a village with no running water – now he's worth $15.4 billion". www.businessofbusiness.com. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  3. News, Steve Johnson | Mercury; Group, Bay Area News (2011-09-09). "Mercury News interview: Jay Chaudhry, CEO of Zscaler, a cloud computing security firm". The Mercury News. Retrieved 2024-02-26.{{cite web}}: |last1= has generic name (help)
  4. News, Steve Johnson | Mercury; Group, Bay Area News (2011-09-09). "Mercury News interview: Jay Chaudhry, CEO of Zscaler, a cloud computing security firm". The Mercury News. Retrieved 2024-02-26.{{cite web}}: |last1= has generic name (help)
  5. Lamare, Amy (2022-02-14). "Zscaler founder Jay Chaudhry grew up in a village with no running water – now he's worth $15.4 billion". www.businessofbusiness.com. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  6. Lamare, Amy (2022-02-14). "Zscaler founder Jay Chaudhry grew up in a village with no running water – now he's worth $15.4 billion". www.businessofbusiness.com. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  7. "Meet Jay Chaudhry, the man who studied under a tree in Himachal to become one of the world's top billionaires today". Business Insider. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  8. Lamare, Amy (2022-02-14). "Zscaler founder Jay Chaudhry grew up in a village with no running water – now he's worth $15.4 billion". www.businessofbusiness.com. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  9. "Jay Chaudhry". Forbes. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  10. Lamare, Amy (2022-02-14). "Zscaler founder Jay Chaudhry grew up in a village with no running water – now he's worth $15.4 billion". www.businessofbusiness.com. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  11. Daily, Investor's Business (2020-12-17). "How Zscaler CEO Jay Chaudhry Turned His Passion Into Billions". Investor's Business Daily. Retrieved 2024-02-26.{{cite web}}: |first= has generic name (help)
  12. "Indian-born cyber tycoon Jay Chaudhry climbs into world's richest list". The Economic Times. 2019-03-02. ISSN   0013-0389 . Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  13. "Zscaler co-founder Jay Chaudhry's focus on IT security has led to major success". Global Indian Times. 2021-10-28. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  14. "Zscaler co-founder Jay Chaudhry's focus on IT security has led to major success". Global Indian Times. 2021-10-28. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  15. Lamare, Amy (2022-02-14). "Zscaler founder Jay Chaudhry grew up in a village with no running water – now he's worth $15.4 billion". www.businessofbusiness.com. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  16. Babu, Venkatesha (2022-05-18). "Zscaler's CEO Jay Chaudhry explains why 'zero-trust security' is better than Firewalls or VPNs". BusinessLine. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  17. News, Steve Johnson | Mercury; Group, Bay Area News (2011-09-09). "Mercury News interview: Jay Chaudhry, CEO of Zscaler, a cloud computing security firm". The Mercury News. Retrieved 2024-02-26.{{cite web}}: |last1= has generic name (help)
  18. Lamare, Amy (2022-02-14). "Zscaler founder Jay Chaudhry grew up in a village with no running water – now he's worth $15.4 billion". www.businessofbusiness.com. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  19. "A Serial Entrepreneur's Journey: Zscaler CEO Jay Chaudhry (Part 6)". Sramana Mitra. 2013-06-24. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  20. Lamare, Amy (2022-02-14). "Zscaler founder Jay Chaudhry grew up in a village with no running water – now he's worth $15.4 billion". www.businessofbusiness.com. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  21. "From Studying Under A Tree In India, Jay Chaudhry Is Worth $35 Billion Today". IndiaTimes. 2021-03-02. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  22. "Zscaler co-founder Jay Chaudhry's focus on IT security has led to major success". Global Indian Times. 2021-10-28. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  23. Evans, Jonny (2023-04-12). "Yet more digital spies targeting iPhones exposed by security researchers". Computerworld. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  24. Lamare, Amy (2022-02-14). "Zscaler founder Jay Chaudhry grew up in a village with no running water – now he's worth $15.4 billion". www.businessofbusiness.com. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  25. "Jay Chaudhry". Indiaspora. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  26. Lamare, Amy (2022-02-14). "Zscaler founder Jay Chaudhry grew up in a village with no running water – now he's worth $15.4 billion". www.businessofbusiness.com. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  27. "From Studying Under A Tree In India, Jay Chaudhry Is Worth $35 Billion Today". IndiaTimes. 2021-03-02. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  28. "Zscaler co-founder Jay Chaudhry's focus on IT security has led to major success". Global Indian Times. 2021-10-28. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  29. Alspach, Kyle (2022-01-31). "Zscaler CEO: Network security firms have 'hijacked' zero trust". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  30. Burt, Jeff. "Mergers and acquisitions are a strong zero-trust use case". www.theregister.com. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  31. Daily, Investor's Business (2020-12-17). "How Zscaler CEO Jay Chaudhry Turned His Passion Into Billions". Investor's Business Daily. Retrieved 2024-02-26.{{cite web}}: |first= has generic name (help)
  32. admin (2022-05-17). "AIF Bay Area Gala Raises $2.1Mln for India's Underprivileged". IndiaWest Journal News. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  33. "Zscaler co-founder Jay Chaudhry's focus on IT security has led to major success". Global Indian Times. 2021-10-28. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  34. News, Steve Johnson | Mercury; Group, Bay Area News (2011-09-09). "Mercury News interview: Jay Chaudhry, CEO of Zscaler, a cloud computing security firm". The Mercury News. Retrieved 2024-02-26.{{cite web}}: |last1= has generic name (help)
  35. News, Steve Johnson | Mercury; Group, Bay Area News (2011-09-09). "Mercury News interview: Jay Chaudhry, CEO of Zscaler, a cloud computing security firm". The Mercury News. Retrieved 2024-02-26.{{cite web}}: |last1= has generic name (help)
  36. "IIT-BHU alumnus gifts $1 million for entrepreneurship center". The Times of India. 2022-01-07. ISSN   0971-8257 . Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  37. admin (2022-05-17). "AIF Bay Area Gala Raises $2.1Mln for India's Underprivileged". IndiaWest Journal News. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  38. admin (2023-10-11). "Sankara Eye Foundation Gala Raises $1.4 Million". IndiaWest Journal News. Retrieved 2024-02-26.