About Robert Herjavec - Shark Tank - Biography

About Robert Herjavec - Shark Tank -

Biography

Herjavec was born in Zbjeg, Croatia and emigrated with his family to Canada at the age of eight, eventually settling in the Toronto neighbourhood of Rexdale . He attended New College at the University of Toronto , and began his business career with IBM mainframe sales.

In 1990 he founded BRAK Systems, which was a Canadian integrator of Internet security software. BRAK Systems was sold to AT&T Canada in 2000 for Cdn$30.2 million, ^{[ 2 ]} and Herjavec took a position there as VP of Internet Security .

Herjavec subsequently became VP of Sales at RAMP Networks in October 2000, two months prior to the company announcing that it had agreed to be acquired by Nokia in a tender offer for $5.80 per share. The total consideration for the company was US$127million. ^{[ 3 ]} Herjavec was granted options which partially vested upon completion of the transaction in the amount of US$471,088. ^{[ 4 ]} Nokia completed the acquisition in January 2001.

In 2003, Herjavec founded The Herjavec Group, a security software integrator and reseller, of which he is presently the CEO . ^{[ 5 ]}

Herjavec starred in the CBC Television series Dragons' Den from season 1 to 6. ^{[ 6 ]} He was also selected by Mark Burnett to appear on Shark Tank , the U.S. version of Dragons' Den . ^{[ 7 ]}