Leadership

Gil Shwed is the founder and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Shwed is considered the inventor of the modern firewall and authored several patents, such as the company’s Stateful Inspection technology

Mr. Shwed has received numerous accolades for his individual achievements and industry contributions, including the Israel Prize for his contributions to the Israeli tech industry and philanthropy, an honorary Doctor of Science from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, an honorary Doctor of Science from Tel Aviv University, the World Economic Forum’s Global Leader for Tomorrow for his commitment to public affairs and leadership in areas beyond immediate professional interests, and the Academy of Achievement’s Golden Plate Award for his innovative contribution to business and technology. Mr. Shwed is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Youth University of Tel Aviv University, a Tel Aviv University Governor and founder of the University’s Check Point Institute for Information Security.

Mr. Shwed chairs the board of directors of Yeholot Association -- founded by the Rashi Foundation, the Yeholot Association’s charter focuses on, among other things, reducing Israel’s high school dropout rates..

Jerry Ungerman has served as Chairman of the board of directors since 2020. Prior to this appointment he was Vice Chairman of our board of directors from 2005 to 2020. From 2001 to 2005, Mr. Ungerman served as our President and before that, from 1998 until 2000, he served as an Executive Vice President. Prior to joining us, Mr. Ungerman accumulated more than 30 years of high-tech sales, marketing and management experience at Hitachi Data Systems (HDS), a data storage company and a member of the Hitachi, Ltd. group. He began his career with International Business Machines Corp. (IBM), a global technology products and services company, after earning a B.A. in Business Administration from the University of Minnesota.

Yoav Chelouche has served on our board of directors since 2006. Mr. Chelouche has also served as one of our outside directors under the Israeli Companies Law since 2006. Mr. Chelouche has been Managing Partner of Aviv Venture Capital since August 2000. Prior to joining Aviv Venture Capital, Mr. Chelouche served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Scitex Corp., a world leader in digital imaging and printing systems, from December 1994 until July 2000. From August 1979 until December 1994, Mr. Chelouche held various managerial positions with Scitex, including VP Strategy and Business Development, VP Marketing and VP Finance for Europe. Mr. Chelouche is the Chairman of the Board of Rosetta Genomics Ltd., and a member of the board of directors of a number of private companies. He is also Chairman of Taasiyeda, an Israeli nonprofit organization that promotes the development of leadership and technology skills in children. Mr. Chelouche earned a B.A. in Economics and Statistics from Tel Aviv University, and a M.B.A. from INSEAD University in Fontainebleau, France.

Mr. Gecht has served on the Check Point Software Technologies Board of Directors as an outside director under the Israeli Companies Law since 2006, and as our lead independent director since 2020. Gecht served as Logitech’s interim CEO from June to December 2023, and has been a member of Logitech’s board since September 2019, chairing the Technology and Innovation Committee. He is the former co-CEO of E.Merge Technology Acquisition Corp., a SPAC focused on Cyber Security, AI, and Enterprise Software, a role he held from 2020 to October 2022. Prior to co-founding E.Merge, Gecht was CEO of Electronics for Imaging (EFI), specializing in digital printing technologies, from 2000 to 2018. Joining EFI in 1995, he also held roles as president, vice president, general manager of Fiery products, and director of software engineering. Earlier, Gecht held management positions at Interro Systems and Apple Israel. Additionally, he was an officer in the Israeli Defense Forces, leading an engineering team in one of IDF high-tech divisions. Mr. Gecht holds a BS degree in computer science and mathematics from Ben Gurion University in Israel.

Ray Rothrock has served on our board of directors since 1995. Mr. Rothrock has also served as one of our outside directors under the Israeli Companies Law since 2000. Presently, Mr. Rothrock is the chairman and CEO of RedSeal Networks in Santa Clara, California. In 2013, Mr. Rothrock retired from Venrock, a venture capital firm he joined in 1988 and where he was a General Partner since 1995. He is also a director of a number of private companies. Mr. Rothrock received a B.S. in Engineering from Texas A&M University, an M.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School.

Dr. Tal Shavit has served on our board of directors since 2000. Dr. Shavit is an organizational consultant specializing in international collaboration between Israeli and American companies, consulting in the management of cultural differences in order to forge effective collaboration. Her work with leading management teams includes the definition of organizational culture as the engine of the company’s activities. She consults with companies undergoing structural change with emphasis on organizational growth through effective mergers and acquisitions and a redefining of management roles in order to meet market changes.

Shai Weiss has served on our board of directors since 2018. Recently, Mr. Weiss is the Chief Executive Officer of Virgin Atlantic Limited and has served as an Executive Director on its board since 2012. Mr. Weiss has also served as Virgin Atlantic’s Chief Commercial Officer in 2017 and Chief Financial Officer in 2014, when he joined from Virgin Management Limited where he was an Investment Partner since 2012 and a Founding Partner of Virgin Green Fund. Prior to joining Virgin Group, he held several senior management positions at ntl:Telewest (now Virgin Media), the UK and Europe’s largest cable operator, including Managing Director of Consumer Products, Director of Operations, and Director of Financial Planning for the Consumer division. Mr. Weiss holds an MBA from Columbia University in New York and a BBA from City University of New York, Baruch College.

Ms. Ozer-Armon serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Lumenis Ltd. Before joining Lumenis, she headed the Japanese market activities of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. and served as Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at SanDisk. Previously, Ms. Ozer-Armon also served as VP & General Manager at MSystems. In addition to Check Point Ms. Ozer-Armon is a director at ICL, Strauss Group Ltd. And SimilarWeb.  Ms. Ozer-Armon holds a BA degree, magna cum laude, in Economics, and an MBA degree in Finance and Marketing from Tel-Aviv University, and she is an AMP graduate of the Harvard Business School.

Jill Smith brings more than 20 years of international leadership experience, including 17 years as chief executive officer of private and public companies in the technology and information services markets. Most recently, Ms. Smith served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Allied Minds, an IP commercialization company, from March 2017 through June 2019, and prior to that she served as Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of DigitalGlobe Inc., a global provider of satellite imagery products and services. Ms. Smith started her career as a consultant at Bain & Company, where she rose to become Partner. She subsequently joined Sara Lee as Vice President, and went on to serve as President and Chief Executive Officer of eDial, a VoIP collaboration company, and of SRDS, a business-to-business publishing firm. She also served as Chief Operating Officer of Micron Electronics, and co-founded Treacy & Company, a consulting and boutique investment business. Ms. Smith currently serves as a director of Aspen Technology, Inc., CIRCOR International, Inc., R1 RCM Inc. and MDA Ltd. She previously served as a director of Gemalto NV from 2016 to 2018, Allied Minds plc from 2016 to 2019, Endo International from 2012 to 2018 and Hexagon AB from 2013 to 2017. Prior to Ms. Smith’s appointment to the Board of Directors becoming effective in the fourth quarter of 2023, Ms. Smith will resign from one of these boards.