Michelle Zatlyn
Canadian businesswoman (born 1979)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Michelle Zatlyn (born July 1979) is a Canadian businesswoman. She is the co-founder, president, and chief operating officer of American content delivery network provider and cybersecurity firm Cloudflare.
_(cropped).jpg)
- McGill University (BS)
- Harvard University (MBA)
Michelle Zatlyn | |
|---|---|
Zatlyn in 2019 | |
| Born | July 1979 (age 46) Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Canada |
| Education |
|
| Occupation | Entrepreneur |
| Title | Co-founder, president, and COO of Cloudflare, Inc. |
Board member of |
|
| Children | 2 |
Personal life and education
Michelle Zatlyn was born in July 1979[1] in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Canada where she grew up.[2][3][4] She attended Carlton Comprehensive High School where she was once the captain of the basketball team.[2] She graduated from McGill University with a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry in 2001 and subsequently completed a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from Harvard Business School.[5][6] Zatlyn is married and has two children.[7] She lives in San Francisco.[8][9]
Career
After a summer internship at Google and a stint as a product manager at Toshiba,[10][11] Zatlyn joined the founding team of Toronto-based startup I Love Rewards (later Achievers), a global employee rewards program.[12][13][14] She co-founded Cloudflare with Harvard Business School classmates Matthew Prince and Lee Holloway in 2009.[11] She sits on Cloudflare's board and serves as the company's president and COO.[15][16]
Speaking about her co-founding of Cloudflare, Zatlyn states:
When we came up with Cloudflare, I knew nothing about internet security, but I care a lot about liking what I'm doing. I knew if I could help create internet security, that's something I could work hard for and be proud [of]; 10 years later, we have 165 data centres, 12 million domains and more than 800 employees.[10]
Zatlyn was appointed to the board of directors for Australian software company, Atlassian, in September 2021.[17] She is also a member of the cybersecurity team of Aspen Institute.[18]
Recognition
Zatlyn was named as one of Fortune magazine's "40 Under 40" (2017)[19] and Forbes's "50 Self-Made Women" (2021);[20] she was also nominated as C100's "Icon of Canadian Entrepreneurship" (2019).[21] As of 2021, she is a member of the Young Global Leaders of the World Economic Forum.[22] As of May 2025,[update] Forbes estimated her net worth at US$1.6 billion.[11] Zatlyn was also listed among the world's richest self-made women by Forbes in 2024.[23]