AVG Technologies has named Gary Kovacs as CEO and Managing Director of the security vendor.
The Toronto-born Kovacs joins AVG from Mozilla Corp., where he was most recently CEO and responsible for expanding the company’s desktop and mobile businesses.
Over the course of his 25-year career and prior to joining Mozilla, Kovacs was senior vice president of markets, solutions & products at Sybase (acquired by SAP) and General Manager and VP of Mobile & Devices at Adobe Systems. He also held a variety of senior marketing, product management, technical and operating positions with other industry leading companies including Macromedia (acquired by Adobe), Zi Corp. (acquired by Nuance Communications) and IBM, where he was instrumental in creating products and strategies that drove long-term growth.
“We know that there are over two and a half billion people online and we anticipate another two and a half billion people coming online in the next five years. With all these people online there is going to be an increasing urgency to secure them,” Kovacs said, a University of Calgary graduate.
“I have dedicated my last three years to that pursuit and with AVG building products that simplify and secure users’ digital lives, it is a natural fit. I am really excited to be here and I am looking forward to helping AVG continue to grow its business.”
Dale Fuller, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of AVG, welcomed Kovacs to AVG by saying the company would benefit from his seasoned leadership skills.
“His past career successes are directly applicable to the opportunity and the future of AVG – mobile, cloud, software and platforms — and we believe that his rare blend of experience, leadership and drive will take AVG to new levels,” Fuller added.