Gary F. Bengier (born February 25, 1955) is an American entrepreneur, business executive, technologist and writer. He is best known as the CFO of

eBay eBay Inc. ( , often stylized as ebay) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that allows users to buy or view items via retail sales through online marketplaces and websites in 190 markets worldwide. ...

, who led the company's initial and secondary public offerings. He also took senior executive positions at various

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that is a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical area of the Santa Clara Valley ...

technology companies. Bengier is the author of two philosophical speculative fiction works: ''Unfettered Journey'' (2020) and ''Journey to 2125'' (2024).

Early life and education

Bengier was raised in

Richmond, Ohio Richmond is a village in Jefferson County, Ohio, United States. The population was 412 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Weirton–Steubenville metropolitan area. History Richmond was laid out in 1815. A post office called Richmond has been ...

. His father was a US veteran, who served as a

U.S. Marine The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionar ...

during the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

. From 1979 to 1981, Bengier attended

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate school, graduate business school of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university. Located in Allston, Massachusetts, HBS owns Harvard Business Publishing, which p ...

where he earned an MBA degree. In 2012, Bengier completed his MA degree in philosophy from

San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It was established in 1899 as the San Francisco State Normal School and is ...

, where he studied

philosophy of mind Philosophy of mind is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of the mind and its relation to the Body (biology), body and the Reality, external world. The mind–body problem is a paradigmatic issue in philosophy of mind, although a ...

. Bengier also holds a BBA in Computer Science and Operations Research from

Kent State University Kent State University (KSU) is a Public university, public research university in Kent, Ohio, United States. The university includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio located in Kent State University at Ashtabula, Ashtabula, Kent State ...

, where he graduated ''

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

''. Early in his career, Bengier served as corporate controller at

Compass Design Automation 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 suppl ...

in 1993–1996. Prior to eBay, he was a vice president and CFO of

VXtreme NetShow was Microsoft's original framework for Internet network broadcasting, intended to compete with RealNetworks RealMedia & Vivo Software, Vivo (''acquired in 1998 by RealNetworks''). It was later renamed and marketed under the Windows Media u ...

, a streaming video company, later acquired by

Microsoft Corporation 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 ...

Career

eBay

In 1997, Bengier joined

when the company was still in its early stages of development as a startup. He remained with the company until 2001 as chief financial officer. Bengier was instrumental in building eBay's financial and administrative team in the early formative years. During his tenure, Bengier led the eBay's initial and secondary public offerings which raised $1.5 billion in equity capital. According to Adam Cohen's book, Bengier played a key role in taking eBay public in September 1998. As ''

CFO Magazine ''CFO.com'' (formerly CFO Magazine) is an online publication owned by Industry Dive. Once a top B2B magazine, it launched in 1985 for chief financial officers (CFOs) and other financial executives in companies in the U.S. The Economist Group acqu ...

'' notes: "the Harvard Business School-trained Bengier has helped transform the online auctioneer from a Silicon Valley startup into a Wall Street favorite".

Other ventures

After 2001, Bengier served on

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 ...

's board of directors as chairman of the audit committee and lead independent director. He served on the board of

Cobalt Networks Cobalt Networks was a maker of low-cost Linux-based servers and server appliances based in Mountain View, California. The company had 1,900 end user customers in more than 70 countries. During the dot-com bubble, the company had a market capita ...

, which was sold to

Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems, Inc., often known as Sun for short, was an American technology company that existed from 1982 to 2010 which developed and sold computers, computer components, software, and information technology services. Sun contributed sig ...

. He also held senior financial positions in Bio-Rad Laboratories and Qume Corporation. Bengier spent several years as a management consultant for Touche Ross & Company.

Philanthropy and community involvement

In 2004, Gary and his wife Cynthia established the Bengier Foundation, a charitable project supporting young students with educational grants. Bengier also serves on the board of trustees of the

Exploratorium The Exploratorium is a museum of science museum, science, technology museum, technology, and art museum, arts in San Francisco, California. Founded by physicist and educator Frank Oppenheimer in 1969, the museum was originally located in the ...

, a museum of science, technology, and arts in San Francisco, California, and on the board of the

Santa Fe Institute The Santa Fe Institute (SFI) is an independent, nonprofit theoretical research institute located in Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States and dedicated to the multidisciplinary study of the fundamental principles of complex adaptive systems, inc ...

Books

In 2020, Bengier published his debut novel ''Unfettered Journey'', which won several book awards. ''Unfettered Journey'' explores complex adaptive systems and chaos theory through a science fiction lens. The prequel, ''Journey to 2125: One Century, One Family, Rising to Challenges'' — a hard-science novel examining how accelerating technology could shape the next century — was published in September 2024. It weaves together family drama, political intrigue, and speculative hard science.