Bruce R. Chizen (born 1956) is an American technology executive. He was the

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especial ...

(CEO) of Adobe Systems from 2000 to 2007.

Education

Chizen earned a B.S. from Brooklyn College ( City University of New York) in 1978.

Career

From 1980 to 1983, he worked in

Mattel Electronics The Intellivision is a home video game console released by Mattel Electronics in 1979. The name is a portmanteau of "intelligent television". Development began in 1977, the same year as the launch of its main competitor, the Atari 2600. In 1984, ...

' merchandising group, helping it grow into a US$500 million business. In 1983, Chizen joined

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washin ...

as the company's eastern region sales director. In 1987, he joined

Claris Claris International Inc., formerly FileMaker Inc., is a computer software development company formed as a subsidiary company of Apple Inc., Apple Computer (now Apple Inc.) in 1987. It was given the source code and copyrights to several program ...

as a founding senior manager and later held positions as vice president of sales and of worldwide marketing before becoming vice president and general manager of ''Claris Clear Choice''. In 1994

Aldus Corporation Aldus Corporation was an American software company best known for its pioneering desktop publishing (DTP) software. PageMaker, the company's most well-known product, ushered in the modern era of desktop computers such as the Macintosh seeing ...

hired Chizen to run its consumer division in San Diego (what was formerly Silicon Beach Software). Later that year, Aldus was acquired by Adobe Systems and Chizen became vice president and general manager of consumer products. He was named CEO of Adobe in April 2000. His most notable action as CEO was the acquisition of

Macromedia Macromedia, Inc., was an American graphics, multimedia, and web development software company (1992–2005) headquartered in San Francisco, California, that made products such as Flash and Dreamweaver. It was purchased by its rival Adobe System ...

. In an interview, Chizen stated that the primary reason for acquiring Macromedia was to get

Flash Flash, flashes, or FLASH may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional aliases * Flash (DC Comics character), several DC Comics superheroes with super speed: ** Flash (Barry Allen) ** Flash (Jay Garrick) ** Wally West, the first Kid F ...

. During his 14 years at the company, Chizen engaged in transforming Adobe from a developer of graphics and publishing software into a leading diverse supplier of design, media, and business tools. On November 12, 2007, Adobe announced that Chizen would step down as CEO effective December 1, to be replaced by Shantanu Narayen, president and chief operating officer. Chizen is a senior advisor for private-equity firm

Permira Permira is a global investment firm. Founded in 1985, the firm advises funds with assets under management of €60+ billion. The Permira funds have made approximately 300 private equity investments in four key sectors: Technology, Consumer, Ser ...

, and has been a venture partner with Voyager Capital since 200

He also sits on the boards of

Informatica Informatica is an American software development company founded in 1993. It is headquartered in Redwood City, California. Its core products include Enterprise Cloud Data Management and Data Integration. It was co-founded by Gaurav Dhillon and Di ...

, Oracle Corporation,

Synopsys Synopsys is an American electronic design automation (EDA) company that focuses on silicon design and verification, silicon intellectual property and software security and quality. Products include tools for logic synthesis and physical de ...

, Elemental Technologies, NDS, an
FullStory
Chizen also sits on several nonprofit boards, including th
Silicon Valley Education Foundation
and o
1st Act Silicon Valley

Personal life

Chizen lived in Los Altos, in Santa Clara County, California with his wife and children.

References

External links

Bruce Chizen's legacy

PCMag Adobe CEO Bruce Chizen interview

The alchemist of paper - The Economist article
Living people Brooklyn College alumni 1956 births American technology chief executives Adobe Inc. people {{US-CEO-stub