Gil Shwed (born 1968)[1][2] is an Israeli software engineer and entrepreneur.[3][4] He is the co-founder and Executive Chairman of the Board of Check Point, one of Israel's largest technology companies and the world's largest pure-play cybersecurity company.[5][4] Shwed was CEO from 1994 until 2024, the longest tenure for a Nasdaq-listed company.[6]
Shwed was born in Jerusalem.[7] He started programming at the age of 13, and two years later began studying computer sciences at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, while he was still in high-school.[4]
During his military service he was part of the Intelligence Corps' Unit 8200.[8] Afterwards, Shwed joined the Israeli startup company Optrotech (currently Orbotech), where he worked as a Software Developer.
In 1993, Shwed founded Check Point with Shlomo Kramer, Shwed's friend from the military unit, and Marius Nacht with whom he worked at Optrotech.[4]
That year, Shwed invented and patented stateful inspection,[9] which was the basis for the first version of the company's renowned FireWall-1, released in 1994.[10] Stateful Inspection is still widely used in network firewalls today.[11]
1994 Shwed became the chief executive officer and director of Check Point. He previously was president of Check Point and chairman of the board.[12] As of 2018, Shwed is the leading shareholder in Checkpoint, owning 19.1% of the company, with an estimated worth of US$3.4 billion. The second largest shareholder in Check Point is US investment company Massachusetts Financial Services with a 7.7% stake worth $1.3 billion at present.[13]
Shwed and Check Point emphasize the "fifth generation" of cybersecurity, addressing the underlying issues behind such vulnerabilities as the WannaCry and NotPetya security breaches in 2017.[14][15] He has stated that enterprise businesses are "two generations behind" in their security thinking, and describes the industry as being at an "inflection point."[16]
As of January 27, 2024, Forbes listed Gil Shwed net worth at US$4.38 billion, ranking him 682 on the Billionaires list.[17]
In 2024, Shwed stepped down as CEO and became Executive Chairman of the Board.[18]
He is a member of the Board of Trustees of Tel Aviv University and the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Youth University of Tel Aviv University.[1] He is also a member of the Board of Directors of Yeholot Association founded by the Rashi Foundation whose charter is, among other things, to reduce dropout rates in high schools.[1]
He received an honorary doctorate from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology in June 2005.[19]
Globes newspaper honored Shwed as their "Person of the Year" in 2014.[20]
In 2018, Shwed was the recipient of the first-ever Israel Prize in technology.[21][22][23]
Shwed resides in Tel Aviv. He has children - 3 from his first wife, Hamutal Einhorn, and 3 from his current wife, Meytal Danino Shwed.[24]
