Venafi welcomes new CEO
James Humphreys
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Software as a Service (SaaS) business, Venafi has announced the appointment of Patrick Dennis as Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
Explaining his decision to join the company, Dennis said: “Major industry trends – from the rapid advancements in quantum computing to the mainstream emergence of deep fakes and the arms race afoot to continually accelerate the capabilities of AI – are what caught my attention with Venafi.”
“The company has a powerful solution and strategy for combating these types of challenges.
“With the strongest backing in the security industry by Thoma Bravo, I have full confidence that we are set up for success as we take on these big challenges in 2024 and beyond.”
Valuable experince for Venafi
Dennis brings 25 years of experience from marquee technology leaders including EMC, Oracle, Guidance Software and most recently, ExtraHop.
At EMC, he was the COO and led an $11 billion business unit, he was the CEO at Guidance Software, which was acquired by OpenText and he doubled the size of ExtraHop during his most recent tenure, ushering the company to be named a Leader in The Forrester Wave: Network Analysis And Visibility, Q2 2023.
He also brings valuable private equity experience as the former Operating Executive at Vector Capital.
“Patrick’s market expertise from big tech to PE and security will be instrumental in leading Venafi through the company’s next phase of growth and innovation as it continues on its journey as the most modern, connected and trusted leader in machine identity management,” said Chip Virnig, Partner at Thoma Bravo.
“With Patrick at the helm, the team will be able to build on its previous successes and scale the company to new heights, solving some of the most complex challenges CISOs and business leaders are facing today.
“Market drivers like the post-quantum world, cloud native and AI are creating an immense addressable market that we’re excited to take on together.”
New CEO Emeritus
After leading the company for the past 14 years, Jeff Hudson will move out of his daily operating role as Venafi’s CEO to take on the new role of CEO Emeritus.
He will continue to work with the world-wide CISO and CIO community to shape a safe and secure world.
Hudson and the Venafi team created the machine identity management category based on its vision for cybersecurity.
“Patrick will take the company to the next level. The foundation has been laid and under his leadership, Venafi will increase its leading role in managing machine identities, which the world needs now more than ever,” said Hudson.