Ed Iacobucci

Edward "Ed" E. Iacobucci
Occupation	Technology entrepreneur
Known for	Cofounder of Citrix Systems

Edward "Ed" E. Iacobucci (September 26, 1953 – June 21, 2013) was an American businessman who co–founded Citrix Systems.

Biography

Early years and education

Edward "Ed" E. Iacobucci was born September 26, 1953, in Buenos Aires, Argentina to Dr. Guillermo and Costantina Iacobucci. His father, a biochemist, moved his family to the U.S. in 1960 to work first for E.R. Squibb & Sons (a predecessor to pharmaceutical giant Bristol-Myers Squibb), and then Coca-Cola. Roberto Goizueta, then Chairman of Coca-Cola, became a close friend of the Iacobucci family and, subsequently, Ed's godfather.

Iacobucci graduated from Georgia Tech with a BSc in systems engineering.

Career

Iacobucci began his career at IBM in 1979 where he played a role in Big Blue's entry into the commercial software and personal computer business. While at IBM, Iacobucci held architecture and design leadership responsibilities for IBM DOS and OS/2, and led the joint IBM-Microsoft design team that launched the modern era of multi-tasking personal computer operating systems.

In 1989, Iacobucci left IBM to co-found Citrix Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CTXS). He led the company as chairman and chief technology officer through all of its market and product development phases. Under his leadership, Citrix grew rapidly and was named to both the Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500. In 1997, Iacobucci forged a five-year joint development agreement with Microsoft to include Citrix's multi-user capabilities within Microsoft Windows NT Server. He served as Chairman of Citrix through 2000, when he retired to pursue his vision of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)–flying aircraft.

In 2002, Iacobucci co-founded and served as President and CEO of DayJet Corporation, an on-demand airline service that sold individual seats via a time sensitive pricing scale and utilized the Eclipse 500 very light jet, with the mission of bringing inexpensive, accessible per-seat, on-demand jet travel to more people and communities. Iacobucci and his engineering team built a breakthrough computer system for solving highly complex optimization problems for DayJet, which forged a five-year strategic agreement with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to pioneer the next generation of air transportation technologies. But after a successful launch in 2007, DayJet was forced to cease operations in 2008 when it was no longer able to secure its planned growth capital.

Between 2002 and 2007 he was a member of the SCO Group's Board of Directors.

In 2011, Iacobucci founded VirtualWorks, which helps manage data across many platforms, in response to data sprawl, an outgrowth of the information age that he helped to create. Iacobucci served as President and CEO until May 20, 2013, when he stepped down for personal health reasons.

Awards and accolades

In 1998, Iacobucci was recognized as the top entrepreneur in the world in the CNN, USA Today, and Ernst & Young "International Entrepreneur of the Year" award. In 2005, Newsweek included him in its list of "10 Big Thinkers for Big Business", and in 2007, Iacobucci was named to Business 2.0 magazine's list of the "50 Who Matter Now".

Iacobucci sat on the engineering advisory board for Georgia Tech, his alma mater. He served as a technology judge at the state and national level for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards, and he was active in Junior Achievement at the local, state and national levels. His hobbies included boating, photography and horse breeding.

Death

He died of pancreatic cancer on June 21, 2013 at his home in Boca Raton, Florida, U.S.