Joel Bomgar

Founder & Chief Executive Officer

Bomgar Corporation

PDF Version (323KB)   Email This Item

Bomgar, 29, has nearly a decade of experience in network engineering. In 2003, while working his way through college as a systems engineer, Bomgar created the concept for his company's remote control support product, the Bomgar Box™, as a way to provide helpdesk and technical support to disparate users without leaving his desk.

Since founding Bomgar Corporation that same year, the company quickly grew to revenues in excess of $10 million and continues to see more than 100% year-over-year growth.

From his earliest days, when he was home schooled through high school with his siblings in Mississippi, Bomgar has had a history of focused achievement. During his seven year tenure in the Mississippi Air National Guard, he honed his networking and computer skills and earned more than 16 network certifications, along with the Air Force Achievement Medal, the Air Force Commendation Medal and recognition for participation in the security forces squadron in the aftermath of September 11, 2001.

Bomgar graduated Summa Cum Laude with a bachelor of science in business administration from Belhaven College in May 2003, receiving the Trustee's Award for the highest GPA in his graduating class. He worked his way through college as a systems engineer at Business Communications, Inc. (BCI), a systems integrator, and used his experience supporting remote users to develop the technology that would later become the Bomgar Box. Unlike traditional remote control software, this technology allowed him to provide immediate technical support to any computer, anywhere in the world, in a matter of seconds – all without leaving his desk.

In 2003, Bomgar founded Bomgar Corporation, a software company located in Ridgeland, MS, to take the Bomgar™ technology to market. Lacking any marketing budget beyond his personal debit card, Bomgar realized that he would have to get his product in front of potential buyers in a way that was cost-effective and specifically targeted to the type of individuals who would be interested in the technology. After exploring various avenues, Bomgar came to the conclusion that search engine marketing (pay-per-click advertising) was the best vehicle, since he would only have to pay the search engines for actual visitors to the website. Bomgar therefore became one of the "Google generation of companies", targeting search engines to bring the first revenue and customers in the door with very little up-front cost, thus enabling Bomgar to generate the cash to support his business. Surging demand for the Bomgar Box prompted Bomgar to seek venture capital to support aggressive growth and ultimately secured $20 million in growth capital from Southern Farm Bureau Life Insurance Company and GulfSouth Capital, headed by Skytel founder and former US ambassador to Portugal, Mr. John Palmer.

Since the company's inception, Bomgar has been responsible for leading Bomgar Corporation in its acquisition of over 5,000 customers in all 50 states and 52 countries internationally, including numerous global deployments and enterprise customers listed on the Fortune 500, Fortune 1000 and Global 500.

Bomgar has served as the primary spokesman for the company, which has been recognized in publications including ComputerWorld, Entrepreneur Magazine, Fast Company, InformationWeek, Red Herring, Small Business Computing, and Mississippi Business Journal, which named Bomgar Corporation one of the "Best Places to Work in Mississippi". Joel Bomgar also appeared on ABC New's "Ahead of the Curve" and on NetworkWorld's "Hot Seat". Additionally, NetworkWorld named Bomgar Corporation one of the "Top 10 Security Companies to Watch" and gave the Bomgar B200™ a rating of 4.65 out of 5 for their "Clear Choice Test". CRNrecommends the B300 with a top rating of 5 stars. Bomgar Corporation was one of the finalists for eWeek's Excellence Awards and was honored with a DEMOgod award for one of the 10 best presentations at the DEMO 2006 technology conference. Bomgar Corporation was the subject of both a paper and a video case study by Google and was invited to Google headquarters in California to present to all Google staff regarding Bomgar Corporation's success.

The Adobe® logo is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries.