Dave Hitz

Co-founder of NetApp, a worldwide major supplier of network-based storage systems for the computer industry, Hitz helped establish the company in 1992 along with James Lau and Michael Malcolm. The company began as Network Appliance before later shortening its name to NetApp. Hitz has held the title of Executive Vice President and has served as a programmer, marketing evangelist, technical architect, and Vice President of Engineering.

He had a key role in establishing NetApp's growth culture and methods of competing with other companies providing network storage systems. Hitz was born in Santa Monica; his family lived in L.A. until he was ten, when they moved to Virginia. He attended George Washington University part-time for a year and a half while still in high school, then went to Swarthmore College for a year.

He then attended Deep Springs College in Deep Springs, California for two years. The school was located on a cattle ranch on the California/Nevada border, where he learned how to rope and brand cattle. Hitz earned a B.S. degree in Computer Science from Princeton University in 1986. He went on to work as a Senior Engineer at Auspex and as an Engineer at MIPS Computer Systems.

He is co-recipient (with James Lau) of the 2007 IEEE Reynold B. Johnson Information Storage Systems Award. Drawing on his experience on the cattle ranch, Hitz authored a book called "How to Castrate a Bull: Unexpected Lessons on Risk, Growth, and Success in Business". This was an attempt to capture the story of NetApp and his involvement with it.