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Bruce Chizen photo 2003

Bruce R. Chizen (born 1956) is an American business executive, and the former president and CEO of Adobe Systems.

Education

Chizen grew up in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Canarsie and received his undergraduate degree at Brooklyn College.[1][2]

Career

Prior to working at Adobe, Chizen was a regional sales manager at Microsoft and vice president at Claris, a subsidiary of Apple Computer. After Aldus Corporation acquired Silicon Beach Software, he was appointed the VP and general manager of the studio in San Diego.[2]

Adobe

In August 1994, Aldus was merged into Adobe Systems.[3][4] In April 2000, Chizen succeeded Charles Geschke as the president of Adobe. By December of that year, he succeeded John Warnock as CEO.[1]

Chizen presided over the acquisition of Macromedia by Adobe in December 2005.[5] He stated that it was "all about growth." However, the deal was also a defensive maneuver against the influence of Microsoft, with Chizen saying, "They have a $40 billion monopoly with unlimited resources, I'll never not worry about them."[6]

Chizen stepped down from his position at Adobe and was succeeded by Shantanu Narayen on December 1, 2007. About his departure, Chizen said: "I'm not leaving under any cloud. There's no severance agreement. I'm taking a break, and the reason I feel comfortable taking a break is because the company is in such good shape."[7]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Bruce Chizen Biography, Encyclopedia of World Biography. Accessed 2020-04-21.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Business Leaders: Bruce R. Chizen, MarketScreener. Accessed 2020-04-20.
  3. ↑ Aldus and Adobe Lay Claim to Digital Publishing by Laurie Flynn, The New York Times. 1994-08-24.
  4. ↑ Aldus and Adobe Systems Finalize Merger, Computer History Museum. 1994-08-31.
  5. ↑ Adobe Completes Acquisition of Macromedia, Adobe Systems. 2005-12-05. Archived 2005-12-07.
  6. ↑ Adobe's Deal for Macromedia May Help It Fend Off Microsoft by Laurie J. Flynn, The New York Times. 2005-12-12.
  7. ↑ Adobe CEO Bruce Chizen steps down, President Shantanu Narayen to take helm by Rachel Conrad, The Sydney Morning Herald. 2007-11-13.

External links

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