Daniel Borel (born 14 February 1950) is a

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

businessman and co-founder of technology firm

Logitech Logitech International S.A. ( ) is a Swiss multinational manufacturer of computer peripherals and software. Headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland, the company has offices throughout Europe, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas. It is a component of ...

Education

In 1973, Daniel Borel earned an engineering degree in

Physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

from the

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne The École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (, EPFL) is a public university, public research university in Lausanne, Switzerland, founded in 1969 with the mission to "train talented engineers in Switzerland". Like its sister institution E ...

in Switzerland, and in 1977 received a Master of Science degree in

Computer Science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...

from

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

. He returned to Switzerland the same year.

Business

Borel co-founded Logitech at his father-in-law's farm in 1981 with Pierluigi Zappacosta and Giacomo Marini. He served as Logitech's

Chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...

1982 to 2008, and served as the company's

CEO 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 ...

from 1982 to 1988, and again from 1992 to 1998. In 1988, he took the Logitech Group public on the Swiss

stock market A stock market, equity market, or share market is the aggregation of buyers and sellers of stocks (also called shares), which represent ownership claims on businesses; these may include ''securities'' listed on a public stock exchange a ...

, and on the Nasdaq in 1997. He is currently serving as Chairman Emeritus on Logitech's board of directors.

Other endeavours

Borel was a member of the

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. ( ) is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland. It has been the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, since 20 ...

Board of Directors from 2004 to 2016. He also serves on the board of Defitech, founded by him and his wife in 2001, a foundation that brings IT technology to disabled people. In addition, he founded and is chairman of , a foundation dedicated to promoting education in Switzerland. In September 2010, Borel, a supporter of the collaboration of Logitech and the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, opened the Daniel Borel Innovation Center on the campus of the university's "Quartier de l'Innovation". In 2019, Borel participated in a fundraising campaign for Unibuddy, a London-based peer-to-peer EdTech platform founded in 2016 by Kimeshan Naidoo and Diego Fanara. Unibuddy raised a total of $5 million in its Series A investment round. Since then, Borel has continued to invest in further Unibuddy funding rounds and the company has raised $32 million to date including a $20 million Series B round in 2021.

Private life

Borel is married, has three children and seven grandchildren.

Awards

*1992: Honorary doctorate from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne *1988: Swiss Entrepreneur of the Year (Branco Weiss award) *2008: World Entrepreneurship Forum's Entrepreneur For The World 2008 Award *2020:

Ernst & Young EY, previously known as Ernst & Young, is a multinational corporation, multinational professional services partnership, network based in London, United Kingdom. Along with Deloitte, KPMG and PwC, it is one of the Big Four accounting firms, Big F ...

Master Entrepreneur Of The Year 2020 Switzerland

Publications

*Interview: ''We've crossed an inflection point – the world will never be the same again.'' – EY Switzerland – December 17, 2020 *Interview: ''Physicists in Industry: Daniel Borel, Co-Founder of Logitech International S.A.'' – Swiss Physical Society – May 2021 *Podcast: ''How Logitech Defied Expectations'' – Swisspreneur EP #197 – October 28, 2021

References

1950 births Living people People from Neuchâtel Swiss businesspeople Stanford University alumni École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne alumni Logitech people {{Switzerland-business-bio-stub