Vincent Steckler (18 October 1958 – 15 June 2021) was an American businessman and CEO of

Avast Software Avast Software s.r.o. is a Czech multinational cybersecurity software company headquartered in Prague, Czech Republic that researches and develops computer security software, machine learning and artificial intelligence. Avast has more than ...

Early life

Steckler was born in Los Angeles, but moved to Garden Grove, Orange County at the age of two. He earned two bachelor's degrees—one in mathematics and the other in information and computer science from the

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a public land-grant research university in Irvine, California. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, UCI offers 87 undergraduate degrees and 129 graduate and pr ...

. After graduating, he worked as a programmer, developing nuclear weapons software for the United States.

Career

Steckler was investigated by the US

Securities and Exchange Commission The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market ...

for six years in an "accounting scandal", which he eventually settled for $35,000. When working for Logicon he was responsible for a $7 million order with Legato Systems "that was cancelled yet found its way onto the books". Steckler joined Symantec in 2000, rising to vice president of Japan and Asia Pacific. Steckler was appointed CEO of Avast in 2009. He has been credited for the rise in the company's growth, bringing its revenue from 20 to 800 million dollars. Under his leadership, Avast went public in the London Stock Exchange in 2018. In 2018, he was given the Best CEO in the Cybersecurity Industry award by the European CEO Awards. He retired on 30 June 2019, citing the need for a "better work-life balance" and was succeeded as CEO by , Avast's consumer business president. In May 2021, he joined the board of Nord Security, the company that develops

NordVPN NordVPN is a VPN service provided by company Nordsec Ltd with applications for Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, and Android TV. Manual setup is available for wireless routers, NAS devices, and other platforms. NordVPN is develope ...

. After retirement, Steckler was active in philanthropy, donating over $10 million to UC Irvine. He was a financial backer of the Magical Bridge organization, a charity that constructs socially inclusive playgrounds.

Personal life

Steckler was married with five children. His wife, Amanda was born in Singapore, and they met there.

Death

On June 15, 2021, Steckler was driving in Irvine when he was fatally struck by another car.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Steckler, Vince 1958 births 2021 deaths American technology chief executives University of California, Irvine alumni Businesspeople from Los Angeles People from Garden Grove, California Road incident deaths in California Gen Digital people