Michelle Zatlyn

Michelle Zatlyn was born in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Canada. She initially intended to become a doctor, earning a BS in chemistry from McGill University. Instead, she fell in love with business and decided to move to the United States. However, after securing a job, she was unable to earn a work visa and did not move until she was later accepted to pursue an MBA at Harvard Business School.

In 2009, Zatlyn cofounded Cloudflare with Matthew Prince and Lee Holloway, helping to build one of the world’s most widely used web infrastructure and cybersecurity companies. Cloudflare helps power and secure roughly 20 percent of the web and serves millions of internet properties globally. Previously, she held positions at Google and Toshiba and launched two successful startups. She is also a member of the board of directors of Atlassian and the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders Foundation.

Discussing the visa challenges she overcame to build Cloudflare in the United States, as well as its current global workforce, she told Forbes, “Diversity is ideal when solving hard problems because people who are different look at problems in different ways, whether it’s their gender, where they’re from, or other characteristics. Combine that with trust and a shared vision and you’re likely to have success.”

Zatlyn’s business leadership has earned her C100’s Icon of Canadian Entrepreneurship Award and inclusion in Fortune’s 40 Under 40 and Forbes’ Top 50 Women in Tech and America’s Richest Self-Made Women lists. She has also been named a CNBC Changemaker and recognized as a Top Female Founder by Inc. Magazine.

Published June 2026