# Vlad Shmunis

> Vlad Shmunis is the Odesa-born American co-founder, chairman and CEO of RingCentral. An engineer by training, he founded Ring Zero Systems before building a subscription communications company with Vlad Vendrow in 1999. His public accounts trace a career through bootstrapping, an IPO, a brief move to executive chairman and a return to leading RingCentral’s AI strategy. His family also supports youth internships, small-business opportunity and anthropology research.

- **Role:** Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at RingCentral
- **Organizations:** RingCentral, Ring Zero Systems
- **From:** Odesa, Ukraine
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, magna cum laude, San Francisco State University, Master’s degree in Computer Science, San Francisco State University, MBA studies; did not complete the degree, University of California, Berkeley
- **Known for:** Built Ring Zero software distribution exceeding 25 million copies through PC manufacturing partners., Co-founded RingCentral and led it through its 2013 New York Stock Exchange listing., Named an inventor on multiple US patents.

## Career timeline

- **1970s** — Immigrated from Odesa to the San Francisco Bay Area with his family as a teenager.
- **1992** — Founded Ring Zero Systems, developing desktop communications software.
- **1995** — Recalled fixing a demonstration-blocking bug at 5 a.m. before an HP meeting in Boston.
- **1998** — Ring Zero Systems was acquired by Motorola.
- **1999** — Bought back the earlier business from Motorola and co-founded RingCentral with Vlad Vendrow.
- **2003** — RingCentral’s early service had approximately 300 customers, according to his retrospective account.
- **2006** — RingCentral raised its first venture round after reaching about 20,000 customers.
- **2013** — RingCentral began trading on the NYSE as RNG on September 27.
- **2023-08** — Moved to executive chairman as Tarek Robbiati became CEO.
- **2023-12** — Returned as CEO while remaining chairman.
- **2026** — Continued leading RingCentral’s expansion into AI agents and conversation intelligence.

## Achievements

- Built Ring Zero software distribution exceeding 25 million copies through PC manufacturing partners.
- Co-founded RingCentral and led it through its 2013 New York Stock Exchange listing.
- Named an inventor on multiple US patents.
- Ranked first for Best CEO in the software sector in Institutional Investor’s 2020 All-America Executive Team.
- Received UC Today’s 2020 UC Leader of the Year award.

## Latest updates

- **2026-07** — RingCentral reported second-quarter revenue of $657 million and said customers using a native paid AI product accounted for approximately 13% of ARR; Shmunis remained founder, chairman and CEO.
- **2026-02** — Appeared on Binary to Billions with Rob Scott to discuss immigration, bootstrapping and RingCentral’s AI communications vision.
- **2025-08** — JFCS described the expanded six-week paid Shmunis Internship Program supported by Vlad and Sana Shmunis’s youth endowment.

## Links

- Website: https://www.ringcentral.com/whyringcentral/leadership/vlad-shmunis.html
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vladshmunis
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/vladshmunis

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/vlad-shmunis
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-14