Philippe Courtot Biography and Net Worth

Philippe Courtot is the CEO and chairman of Qualys, a cloud security company. 

Courtot began investing in Qualys from its founding in 1999 and quickly became CEO two years later in 2001. Early in his time with the company, he was presented with the 2004 Editor’s Award by SC Magazine for his efforts in the network security industry, founding the user-driven forum, CSO Interchange. 

In addition to his role as CEO, Courtot became Qualys’ president in 2011. That same year, he was named the “CEO of the Year” by SC Magazine. Courtot guided Qualys through its 2012 IPO.

Early in his career, Courtot was the president and CEO of medical corporation, Thomson-CGR. Under his leadership, Thomson-CGR became an affiliate of one of the world’s largest medical-imaging companies. In 1987, Courtot won the Benjamin Franklin Award for his efforts in creating a nationwide campaign to raise awareness of the life-savings benefits of detecting breast cancer early via mammography. 

Courtot founded email platform provider, cc:Mail, in 1988, becoming CEO two years later. At the company's peak, Courtot-led cc:Mail had amassed a 40 percent market share of email users drawing in a $12 million acquisition offer from Microsoft. Courtot turned down Microsoft’s offering in favor of selling to Lotus for $55 million in 1991. 

The French-born executive became the president and CEO of Verity in 1993, an enterprise knowledge retrieval and intellectual capital management firm. He guided the company to its IPO in 1995.

In 1999, Courtot joined electronic payment company Signio as chairman and CEO. He pivoted the company to become a provider of secure payments in the e-commerce industry. The move resulted in Signio’s $1.3 billion acquisition by VeriSign in 2000. Today, VeriSign’s payment division—built with Signio technology—handles 30 percent of all electronic transactions in the U.S.

Courtot currently serves on the board of directors for StopBadware.org, and he has served on the board of directors of LSF Network, Inc. as well as the board of trustees of The Internet Society, an organization that fosters global Internet development. 

In 2012, he launched the Trustworthy Internet Movement as an effort to blend security measures into the product-making process. He was also recognized by Business Insider’s list of the “Most Powerful Person in Tech at Every Age” in 2014.

Courtot holds a master’s degree in physics from the University of Paris.