Background
Kovacs was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, to Ruby (né Kiraly) and Janos (John) Kovacs.
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Gary Kovacs
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Kovacs attended the University of Calgary"s Haskayne School of Business, earning a Bachelor of Commerce in 1990 and an Master of Business Administration in 1999.
Career
He is the Chief Executive Officer of AVG Technologies. Kovacs has worked for Mozilla Corporation, Adobe, Systems, Applications and Products, and International Business Machines Corporation, and led Zi Corporation, a mobile text messaging company. Kovacs"s father was a Hungarian refugee who fled to Canada in 1956.
Kovacs spent more than 25 years in software and mobile technology.
In addition to his undergraduate and graduate business degrees, Kovacs is a certified communications electronics technologist. Kovacs joined International Business Machines Corporation in 1990, where he held leadership positions in product management, sales, marketing, and operations, eventually serving as Worldwide Program Director for the software division, based in New New York
After 10 years at International Business Machines Corporation, Kovacs became President of Zi Corporation, a company that pioneered predictive text, among other mobile search and text input solutions. From 2000 to 2003, he helmed the company’s successful creation and growth and provided strategic direction for its worldwide expansion.
Kovacs moved to Macromedia in 2003, working as Vice President of Product Marketing.
When Adobe acquired Macromedia in 2005, Kovacs became Vice President and General Manager of Product Management and Marketing for Adobe’s mobile and devices division, rising to General Manager of the entire division in 2008. From 2009 to 2010, Kovacs served as Senior Vice President of Markets, Solutions, and Products at Sybase, through its acquisition by Systems, Applications and Products. After an extensive search for a new Chief Executive Officer in 2010, Mozilla selected Kovacs to replace former Chief Executive Officer John Lilly. Kovacs led the overall direction of the organization and the Firefox web browser.
During Kovacs" tenure Mozilla expanded into the mobile market with the launch of Firefox Operating system, its open mobile operating system.
Kovacs previewed Firefox Operating system at Mobile World Congress 2013, garnering commitments from 18 major worldwide mobile operators. In 2012, Kovacs negotiated a reported $1 billion deal renewing Mozilla’s agreement to make Google the default search engine in Firefox.
Kovacs also steered Mozilla to a position as industry leader in Internet privacy initiatives. Most notably, Firefox now offers Collusion, an add-on that enables users to view all third parties tracking their online activity, and in turn, to make more informed decisions about being tracked.
The Ponemon Institute named Mozilla the “Most Trusted Internet Company Foreign Privacy” for 2012.
Kovacs is a frequent public speaker and panel member. His 2012 TED talk “Tracking the Trackers” explores issues of Internet privacy in an increasingly connected world. At the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting of the New Champions in 2012, he presented on strategies for creating a resilient cyber economy amid economic, security, and privacy obstacles.
He was a keynote speaker at the Mobile World Congress 2013.
Fierce Wireless named Kovacs one of the Rising Stars in Wireless for 2013. On April 2013 Mozilla announced that he would step down as Chief Executive Officer of the corporation later that year and until March 2014 he was part of Mozilla board of directors.
On July 30, 2013, Kovacs joined AVG Technologies as Chief Executive Officer.
