Bruce R. Chizen (born September 5, 1955) is an American technology executive. He was the

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

(CEO) of

Adobe Systems Adobe Inc. ( ), formerly Adobe Systems Incorporated, is an American software, computer software company based in San Jose, California. It offers a wide range of programs from web design tools, photo manipulation and vector creation, through to ...

from 2000 to 2007. A senior advisor at Permira, he is chairman of

McAfee McAfee Corp. ( ), formerly known as McAfee Associates, Inc. from 1987 to 1997 and 2004 to 2014, Network Associates Inc. from 1997 to 2004, and Intel Security Group from 2014 to 2017, is an American proprietary software company focused on online ...

's board of directors.

Early life and education

Bruce R. Chizen was born September 5, 1955. He grew up in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

. His father owned a retail radio TV appliance store, and Chizen would work there on Saturdays. Majoring in health science, Chizen earned a B.S. from

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn in New York City, United States. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls nearly 14,000 students on a campus in the Midwood and Flatbush sections of Brooklyn as of fall ...

(

City University of New York The City University of New York (CUNY, pronounced , ) is the Public university, public university system of Education in New York City, New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven ...

) in 1978.

Career

Mattel Electronics and Claris (1980-1994)

From 1980 to 1983, he worked in Mattel Electronics' merchandising group, helping it grow into a US$500 million business. In 1983, Chizen joined

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

as the company's eastern region sales director. He also worked at Claris Corporation. In 1987, he joined Claris 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 hired Chizen to run its consumer division in San Diego (what was formerly

Silicon Beach Software Silicon Beach Software, Inc. was an early American developer of software products for the Apple Macintosh, Macintosh personal computer. It was founded in San Diego, California, in 1984 by Charlie Jackson (software), Charlie Jackson and his wife Ha ...

). Later that year, Aldus was acquired by Adobe Systems and Chizen became vice president and general manager of consumer products.

Adobe CEO (2000-2008)

He joined Adobe in 1994. He was named CEO of Adobe in 2000, working out of

San Jose, California San Jose, officially the City of San José ( ; ), is a cultural, commercial, and political center within Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area. With a city population of 997,368 and a metropolitan area population of 1.95 million, it is ...

. He was also president from 2000 to 2005, and acting CFO from 2006 to 2007. He held the CEO role until 2007. Notably, as CEO he oversaw the acquisition of

Macromedia Macromedia, Inc. was an American graphics, multimedia, and web development software company headquartered in San Francisco, California, that made products such as Adobe Flash, Flash and Adobe Dreamweaver, Dreamweaver. It was purchased by its riv ...

in 2005 for $3.4 billion in stock. In an interview, Chizen stated that the primary reason for acquiring Macromedia was to get Flash. 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 continued to serve on the board until the spring of 2008, also acting as an advisor until November 28, 2008.

Boards and Mcafee chair (2009-2025)

In 2005, he was a board member at

Synopsys Synopsys, Inc. is an American electronic design automation (EDA) company headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, that focuses on silicon design and verification, silicon intellectual property and software security and quality. Synopsys sup ...

, and president of the board of directors for the Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose. Chizen in 2008 sat on several nonprofit boards, including the Silicon Valley Education Foundation, Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose and 1st Act Silicon Valley. Chizen became a senior advisor for private-equity firm

Permira Permira Holdings Limited is a British global investment firm specialised in buyouts, growth funds, equity funds, and credit funds. Founded in 1985 as part of Schroders, it became independent in 1996. Operating as Permira since 2001, the company ...

in 2008, working out of the firm's office in

Menlo Park, California Menlo Park ( ) is a city at the eastern edge of San Mateo County, California, San Mateo County in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States. It is bordered by San Francisco Bay on the north and east; East Palo Alto, California, Eas ...

. Chizen became a venture partner with Voyager Capital in 2009, serving until 2023, when he became a strategic adviser instead. He also sits on the boards of Informatica, joining in August 2015 and becoming executive chairman in August 2016. He became an operating partner at Permira Growth Opportunities in June 2018. He is also on the board at

Oracle Corporation Oracle Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational computer technology company headquartered in Austin, Texas. Co-founded in 1977 in Santa Clara, California, by Larry Ellison, who remains executive chairman, Oracle was ...

, and joined the FullStory board in 2021. In 2021, he joined Nexthink's board of directors, remaining senior advisor at Permira. He invested in the Seattle startup Uplevel in 2022. In July 2024, he was chairman of

's board of directors, after being appointed to the role in March 2022. Permira had acquired McAfee as part of an investor group in November 2021.https://www.mcafee.com/content/organic-site/en-us/consumer-corporate/newsroom/press-releases/press-release.html?news_id=246b0dad-b4ee-442b-bd1a-22be31392038 He was still on the Delicato board as an independent director in 2024.https://www.mantecabulletin.com/news/local-news/delicato-welcomes-new-board-member/ He is also on the boards of Elemental Technologies and NDS.

Personal life

Chizen and his wife Gail lived in Los Altos, in Santa Clara County, California with their two children—a son and a daughter.

References

External links

Bruce Chizen's legacy

PCMag Adobe CEO Bruce Chizen interview

The alchemist of paper - The Economist article
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chizen, Bruce Living people Brooklyn College alumni 1955 births American technology chief executives Adobe Inc. people