2014 Great Immigrants
Shimon Shmueli
Businessperson, Inventor
Born in Israel
Born in Israel, Shimon Shmueli is credited as the inventor of the USB flash drive, which he created while working at IBM in 1999. After serving in various leadership positions there, he went on to become Chief Technology Officer at KeyNetica, a company that pioneered the use of the USB flash drive as a mobile platform. Currently Shmueli is the founder of Touch360 and a professor in Portland State University’s Engineering and Technology Management graduate program. Updated 2014
