Photograph by Jon Gipe

1

DELL CALLING
Soon after joining Dell as a salesman in 1992, Davis won 3M as a client. "Dell was still one of the small guys in those days." Still, Michael Dell had a sound strategy. "Grow organically and surround yourself with people you think are smarter than you but who don't override your gut instinct."

2

FRAUD ALERT
Davis co-founded LifeLock in 2005 with chief operating officer Robert Maynard after Maynard had been jailed for a week because thieves stole his identity and ran up a $16,000 casino debt. If credit bureaus were more diligent about posting fraud alerts warning merchants of identity theft, this crime would disappear. "The credit bureaus that sell your information don't necessarily want to issue fraud alerts," he says, because this could expose poorly executed security practices that fail to ensure privacy.

3

WASTED TIME
Although LifeLock caters mostly to consumers, Davis has sold its services to large companies that give them to their employees as an HR benefit. "It can take as much as 300 hours over a two-year period to repair your credit rating after an identity theft. Much of this is done on the employer's time."

4

RACE FOR A CURE
Davis helps raise money for the Sam Schmidt Paralysis Foundation, named after a paralyzed Indy racer Davis befriended. "He just passionately lives his life and searches for a cure. He's convinced he will walk again." Davis named his first son Sam in honor of Schmidt.

5

FINELY TUNED
"I like NASCAR, but I love Indy car racing," he says. "The crews have to collect, process, and apply information [about the car, the track, etc.] right away, even if that means changing the air pressure in one tire by a quarter of a pound."