Quick Facts
Biography
Ken Xie is an American businessman of Chinese descent who founded Fortinet and NetScreen. He serves as CEO of Fortinet and was previously the CEO of NetScreen, which was acquired by Juniper Networks for $4 billion in 2004. Starting out as a tinkerer in his garage in Palo Alto, California, he built an ASIC-based firewall/VPN appliance in 1996 that would be the basis of his newly formed company, NetScreen, the next year.
He is a graduate of Tsinghua University, obtaining a B.S. and M.S.
Xie was awarded top 5 Entrepreneur of the Year by Entrepreneur Magazine in 2005 and Northern California Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young in 2006.
Awards
2006 EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award Winner for the Northern California regionand 2012 National Finalist for the EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award.