Technology companies across cybersecurity, cloud infrastructure, AI and managed services announced executive leadership changes throughout October 2026, including new CEOs, chief revenue officers, channel chiefs and board members.
Among the appointments, Slide named co-founder Austin McChord interim CEO, Kiteworks appointed Matt Marlier vice president of global channels and alliances, and Azul named Matt Camassa chief revenue officer.
The following roundup tracks October’s leadership appointments and promotions, including changes affecting partner programs, go-to-market strategies and regional operations.
C-suite leadership changes across the IT channel
Slide announces new interim CEO in Austin McChord
Slide, a business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) company, has announced that co-founder Austin McChord has been named interim CEO, succeeding co-founder Michael Fass, who has stepped down.
McChord founded Datto and scaled it into a technology provider that serves MSPs.
“Michael and I started Slide because we believed MSPs deserved something better,” said McChord. “He brought that vision to life, and I’m deeply grateful for his leadership in building Slide into the successful, growing business it is today.”
Spinnaker Support names Mark Fetches as Global CTO
Spinnaker Support, a third-party software support leader, has announced the promotion of Mark Fetches to Global Chief Technology Officer (CTO).
This expanded role will have Fetches bring Spinnaker’s regional CTOs, solution consulting team, and technical account managers (TAMs) together in a single global organization.
“Customers choose Spinnaker for the expertise of our people,” said Matt Stava, CEO of Spinnaker Support. “Mark showed in EMEA how much customers value close technical engagement from the start. With him leading these teams globally, we can bring that same level of guidance to every region, helping customers solve immediate challenges and plan for what comes next.”
Fetches previously served as Spinnaker’s CTO for EMEA and brings more than 30 years of experience from Accenture, Deloitte, and PwC.
Darktrace revamps c-suite with three new leaders
Behavioral security company Darktrace has announced three new appointments to its executive leadership team, including Adam Towns as Chief Financial and Operating Officer (CFOO), Mike McGuinness as CRO, and Beth Shea as Chief Customer Officer (CCO).
Towns will oversee the company’s global finance organization and key operating capabilities across business performance, systems, data, and analytics.
McGuinness will be charged with leading the global revenue organization and Darktrace’s go-to-market strategy.
Shea will focus on leading Darktrace’s global post-sales organization and customer strategy.
“Adam, Mike, and Beth bring deep experience scaling global software businesses and leading through growth,” said Ed Jennings, President and CEO of Darktrace. “They are strong operators who know how to stay close to customers, create accountability, and execute consistently. Their leadership gives us a stronger foundation to build a mature, durable operating model and help customers secure what AI can do.”
CloudBolt appoints Alexander Thomson CEO, Patricia Tantow CMO
CloudBolt Software has expanded its C-suite by appointing Alexander Thomson as CEO and Patricia Tantow as chief marketing officer (CMO).
Thomson joins CloudBolt from PlexTrac, an AI-powered exposure management and pentest reporting platform, where he served as chief operating officer (COO).
“I’ve worked with Alex at several Insight portfolio companies and have seen firsthand how he builds go-to-market organizations that deliver exceptional business value,” said Thomas Krane, Managing Director at Insight Partners.
Tantow also joins from PlexTrac, where she served as CMO through its acquisition by Brinqa. She was previously CMO at Instaclustr through its acquisition by NetApp in 2022.
“Organizations are scaling AI faster than they can see what it’s running or what it’s costing them,” said Tantow. “CloudBolt has the technology, the expertise, and the conviction to cut through that complexity and eliminate the waste. I look forward to bringing that clarity to customers to help them run their AI workloads with confidence.”
Horizon3 expands leadership team
Horizon3 has announced a pair of promotions, expanding its leadership team, naming Ellen Sundra as Chief Customer Officer and Keith Poyser as General Manager, EMEA.
Sundra will be tasked with overseeing sales engineering, customer success, support, enablement, renewals, and Field CTOs, and will be responsible for helping customers achieve measurable security outcomes with NodeZero.
“Ellen epitomizes our core value of being customer obsessed. Her technical expertise and customer empathy has played a key role in helping Horizon3 cultivate radical champions that love our product and brand,” said Snehal Antani, CEO and co-founder of Horizon3.
In addition, she’s helped build out the team and processes necessary for us to scale pre-sales and post-sales support to the 7,000+ companies that rely on Horizon3 to improve their cyber resilience, resulting in best-in-class retention and revenue expansion metrics across the globe,” said Antani.
Poyser will oversee Horizon3’s next phase of growth and expansion across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA).
“Keith took an eight-person team and built an EMEA organization of more than 110 people that delivered over 260% revenue growth in the last fiscal year,” said Antani. “He built the leadership bench alongside it. That matters because we need leaders who can grow the business and give their teams the authority and accountability to keep delivering. Keith has earned this role.”
Poyser brings more than 20 years of experience scaling technology businesses, including in leadership roles at SentinelOne, Palo Alto Networks, and IBM.
Randy Resnick joins IGEL as Field CTO
IGEL has announced that Randy Resnick has joined IGEL as Field CTO, Government and Critical Industries.
With nearly four decades of technical, cybersecurity, and program leadership, Resnick most recently served as Senior Advisor and Director of the DoD Zero Trust Portfolio Management Office.
“Randy is recognized internationally for his leadership in Zero Trust, but what makes him particularly important as an advisor to IGEL customers and partners is his ability to take transformational cybersecurity concepts from strategy and architecture through program development and operational implementation,” said Klaus Oestermann, CEO of IGEL.
“That combination of technical vision, leadership, and execution is exceptionally well aligned with the next phase of market adoption of the IGEL Adaptive Secure Endpoint Platform,” Oestermann adds.
Barracuda appoints Dan Fletcher as CFO
Barracuda Networks has tapped Dan Fletcher as CFO, bringing him over from Planful where he served as CFO.
“This is a pivotal moment for Barracuda, as we take advantage of the accelerating demand for cybersecurity platforms, build on the momentum of BarracudaONE, and advance our strategy for the next phase of growth,” said Rohit Ghai, CEO, Barracuda. “Dan’s growth mindset, operating experience, and financial discipline will be instrumental as we scale the business.”
Prior to Planful, Fletcher served as CFO at MarkLogic, leading the company’s transition to a SaaS model and helping guide its sale to Progress Software.
Fletcher also served on the board of directors of LivePerson through its recent sale to SoundHound AI and previously served on the board of Reconext.
New channel chiefs and partner leadership appointments
Kiteworks hires Matt Marlier as VP, Global Channels & Alliances
Kiteworks has announced the appointment of Matt Marlier as Vice President, Global Channels & Alliances.
As channel chief, Marlier will work to grow the organization’s partner ecosystem, bringing the Kiteworks Control Plane to more organizations and driving revenue growth.
Marlier has previously built partner programs at Red Hat, NGINX, HashiCorp, and Software AG.
“Kiteworks sells through distributors, resellers, MSPs and MSSPs, accreditation consultants, and technology alliance partners, and we plan to add partners in each of those categories,” said Tim Freestone, Chief Strategy Officer, Kiteworks. “We’ll look to Matt to grow every one of those partner programs worldwide.”
In his time at Red Hat, Marlier spent 12 years across various segments, including direct, indirect, and alliances, and grew the embedded and ISV alliances business from 35 ISVs and $10 million in bookings to more than 200 ISVs and more than $75 million in bookings.
GuidePoint Security names Mark Thornberry as CBO
GuidePoint Security has promoted Mark Thornberry to Chief Business Officer (CBO) after previously serving as Senior Vice President of Partnerships.
Thornberry will continue to lead GuidePoint’s channel and strategic vendor partnerships while also overseeing GuidePoint’s relationships with leading AI platforms to develop new opportunities for customers.
“Mark helped build the playbook for channel success at GuidePoint and has made partnerships a core part of how we serve customers,” said Scott Rachford, CEO of GuidePoint Security.
“As Chief Business Officer, he will bring the market perspective, relationships, and execution discipline behind that success to new areas of the business. He knows how to develop an opportunity, prove it works, and bring the right teams together to scale it – exactly what we need to accelerate our next stage of growth,” Rachford adds.
Azul appoints Matt Camassa as CRO
Azul, a leader in enterprise Java, has appointed Matt Camassa as Chief Revenue Officer (CRO), bringing more than 20 years of experience building and scaling global enterprise sales to the role.
Camassa will lead Azul’s global revenue organization, including sales, solution engineering, partners, customer success, and operations.
Camassa previously served as CRO at TeleSign, helping scale the business before its 2017 acquisition by BICS.
“Matt has successfully built global revenue organizations that sell mission-critical technology to the world’s largest, most sophisticated enterprises, and he has done it across multiple target markets and growth cycles,” said Scott Sellers, co-founder and CEO of Azul.
XCENA names Steve Fingerhut as CBO
XCENA, a fabless company providing memory-centric computing solutions for AI infrastructure, has appointed Steve Fingerhut as Chief Business Officer, leading the company’s global business, including sales, business development, product management, strategic partnerships, marketing, and go-to-market strategy.
Fingerhut most recently led Qualcomm’s engagement with Meta across data center technologies, including AI, compute, and networking, spanning executive relationships, roadmap alignment, and ecosystem partnerships.
“XCENA has reached an important inflection point. We have demonstrated the technology and are now focused on bringing MX1 into production environments and building the business around it,” said Jin Kim, CEO of XCENA. “Steve brings exactly the experience we need at this stage.”
“Throughout his career, he has built and scaled data center businesses, worked with some of the world’s largest technology companies, and turned emerging technologies into products adopted by hyperscalers and enterprises. His experience across data center processing, acceleration, and memory will be invaluable as we expand XCENA globally,” Kim adds.
Fingerhut brings more than 25 years of experience building and scaling data center compute and infrastructure businesses.
Smarsh appoints Alessandro Silva as Chief Growth Officer
Smarsh, a communications data and intelligence organization, has appointed Alessandro Silva as Chief Growth Officer.
This newly created role will unite Smarsh’s Enterprise, Corporate, Public Sector, and Global Channel business units under one commercial strategy.
Silva joins from ACI Worldwide, serving as CRO and leading the global commercial organization. He previously held senior sales and general management roles at Western Union, GE Capital, and The Carlyle Group.
“Smarsh has an exceptional foundation for global growth: trusted technology, talented people, and a customer base that includes 80% of the world’s top global banks,” said Kim Crawford Goodman, CEO of Smarsh. “Alessandro brings the global perspective and proven leadership we need to turn that opportunity into sustained growth.”
commercetools names Katy Hiller as CMO
Commerce platform, commercetools, has named Katy Hiller as CMO, bringing more than 20 years of B2B technology marketing experience across growth, go-to-market strategies, and building high-performance marketing organizations.
Hiller will be tasked with leading the company’s global marketing strategy, with responsibility for brand, communications, product and field marketing, and demand generation.
“Commerce is entering a period of fundamental change as AI reshapes how consumers shop and how businesses operate,” said Doug McNary, CEO at commercetools. “Katy understands how to turn major shifts in technology into clear market positioning and sustainable growth.”
Prior to joining commercetools, Hiller spent seven years at Sonatype and eventually became CMO.
BlueVoyant names John Hultman as CRO
BlueVoyant, a cybersecurity services organization, has added John Hultman as CRO.
He will lead BlueVoyant’s global revenue organization, including sales and revenue operations, while working closely with the company’s leadership to accelerate growth and strengthen go-to-market execution.
Hultman brings more than 30 years of global technology sales leadership, most recently serving as CRO at Druva and leading Americas Sales at Cohesity before that.
“John joins BlueVoyant at an important moment for the company. We’ve built a strong foundation, and his experience and perspective will be valuable as we continue to scale the business and deepen our customer relationships,” said John Hernandez, CEO of BlueVoyant. “His focus on execution and customer success aligns closely with where we’re headed, and he’ll help us meet a market that’s demanding exactly what BlueVoyant delivers.”
8×8 adds Jamie Snaddon as SVP & CSO, Nerea Gandarias as Managing Director, EMEA
8×8, a global business communications platform provider, has named Jamie Snaddon Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer, and Nerea Gandarias Managing Director, EMEA, succeeding Snaddon.
CSO will be a newly created role for 8×8 in which Snaddon will work with the executive leadership team to advance the organization’s strategy, evaluate growth opportunities, and help prioritize initiatives and investments across the business.
Snaddon most recently served as Managing Director of EMEA at 8×8. Prior to that, he led the company’s European legal team.
“Jamie has proven he can turn strategy into results,” said Samuel Wilson, CEO, 8×8, Inc. “He understands our technology, our customers, and the markets in which we compete, and he’s been the lead on some really successful launches such as 8×8 Small Business and international expansions.”
“As communications and AI reshape our industry, Jamie will work with me and our leadership team to see where 8×8 is best positioned to win, and help translate our strategy into growth and long-term value creation,” Wilson added.
Gandarias previously served as Global Vice President of Field and Channel Marketing and UK Country Lead. Before joining 8×8, she spent 13 years at SS&C Advent.
Cloud5 adds Mike Dickersbach, Rick Galloway to leadership team
Cloud5 Communications, a provider of technology and communications solutions and services for more than 5,000 hotels across the Americas, has named Mike Dickersbach as Chief Technology and Transformation Officer and Rick Galloway as Vice President of MSP Operations.
Dickersbach will help advance the company’s technology strategy, operational information, and integration initiatives. He will also help Cloud5 integrate and scale technology, systems, and processes across the organization while identifying opportunities to use automation, data, and AI to enhance customer and employee experiences.
“Mike understands hospitality technology from virtually every angle. He has led technology for hotel owners and operators, worked on the technology-provider side of the industry and managed complex transformation initiatives across large organizations,” said Mark Holzberg, President and CEO of Cloud5 Communications.
Galloway will be tasked with supporting Cloud5’s growing Managed IT Services business and brings more than 25 years of technology and operational leadership experience, including two decades with Marriott International.
“Rick brings the combination of hospitality experience, technical knowledge, and operational discipline we need as our MSP business grows,” Holzberg said. “Mike and Rick have both spent years on the customer side of hospitality technology. They understand firsthand the pressures hotel IT organizations face and what they expect from a technology partner.”
Ivanti adds Robert Ruelas as CRO, Sterling Parker as CCO
Autonomous Endpoint Management organization, Ivanti, has named Robert Ruelas as CRO and promoted Sterling Parker to Chief Customer Officer (CCO).
Ruelas will be tasked with leading Ivanti’s global sales and renewals organizations. He most recently led the revenue, professional services, and customer success teams at Omnissa.
“Rob is an accomplished leader with a proven track record of building world-class sales organizations and delivering results for organizations and their customers,” said Dennis Kozak, CEO of Ivanti. “His experience, customer focus, and ability to drive execution at scale will be instrumental as we continue expanding our market presence and helping customers achieve better business outcomes.”
Parker joined Ivanti in 2011 and will now oversee the company’s post-sales customer experience, bringing together customer success, adoption, retention, and advocacy efforts under a unified leadership structure.
“Sterling has consistently demonstrated a deep commitment to customers and has earned the trust of both our customers and teams,” said Kozak. “Bringing our post-sales customer functions together under his leadership will enable us to further strengthen customer engagement, accelerate value realization, and deliver an even better experience throughout the customer journey.”
Regional leadership changes across EMEA and APAC
Seekr adds Naief Al-Shibli as VP & UK Government GM, David Church as Managing Director of UK Operations
Seekr, an organization focused on explainable and sovereign AI, is expanding into Europe, opening its first European office and adding Naief Al-Shibli as VP and UK General Manager and David Church as Managing Director of UK Operations.
Al-Shibli joins from Palantir and will be tasked with leading sales and growing the UK business.
Church, meanwhile, brings more than 40 years of experience in European investment banking, including advising on data center transactions across Europe.
“The UK is a critical AI market, and demand there for governable, sovereign AI shows no sign of slowing down,” said Rob Clark, President of Seekr. “Customers across the UK are already putting AI to work across their core operations, and having dedicated experts sitting side-by-side ensures they are getting the latest sovereign AI they need, all under their control and local laws. Opening in London is our commitment to those customers.”
Zoom appoints Andrew Hindmarch as APAC Head of Channel
Zoom Communications has named Andrew Hindmarch as Head of Channel, Asia Pacific (APAC).
Hindmarch will lead the company’s channel strategy across the region, working closely with Zoom’s network of distributors, resellers, systems integrators, and service providers.
“Customers across APAC are looking at how AI can deliver value across more of their business, from how employees work to how they serve customers,” said Carlos Quaderi, Head of APAC at Zoom. “Hindmarch brings deep CX expertise and a strong track record of building channel businesses across diverse markets.”
Hindmarch brings more than 20 years of experience in enterprise technology and CX, joining Zoom from NiCE, where he served as Vice President, Partner and Alliances, leading the channel business for the CX division across APAC and the Middle East.
Riverbed boosts APJ leadership team
Riverbed, an AIOps for observability organization, has appointed Peter Lee as Regional Director of Solutions Engineering, APJ, and promoted Nick Kempt to Director of Alliances, AIOps and Customer Success, APJ – enhancing its leadership team in the Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ) region.
Lee brings more than two decades of experience in technical pre-sales, cybersecurity, and IT observability. He will be tasked with building and scaling Riverbed’s Solutions Engineering organizations across APJ in his new role.
Kempt will be taking on an expanded role in driving Riverbed’s regional AIOps strategy, customer engagement, and strategic alliances. He will focus on enhancing executive customer relationships and expanding alliances with MSPs and technology partners to scale adoption of Riverbed’s solutions across the region.
“AI is changing what customers expect from their technology environments and their partners,” said Paul Crighton, Vice President Sales, APJ, at Riverbed.
“Peter and Nick bring complementary strengths in technical leadership, customer success, and regional execution. Their expanded roles will help customers and partners get more from their existing investments as they move toward autonomous IT operations, maximizing the value of AI in their IT environments,” Crighton adds.
Board appointments and other executive moves
Nscale appoints Amy Banse to Board of Directors
Nscale, a full-stack AI cloud platform, has named Amy Banse to its Board of Directors, while also serving as Chair of the Compensation Committee.
Banse brings over 30 years of experience in corporate strategy, investment, and governance, and currently serves on the boards of Adobe, Lennar Corporation, and On Holding AG.
“As we scale, the quality of our governance matters as much as the quality of our infrastructure. Amy has spent her career on the boards of some of the world’s best-run companies, and she brings substantial experience to Nscale at a pivotal moment,” said Josh Payne, Founder and CEO of Nscale.
Banse previously served as Executive Vice President at Comcast Corporation and Managing Director and Head of Funds at Comcast Ventures.
DigiFlight names Melody Berry as manager of cybersecurity and compliance
DigiFlight, a provider of aerospace, cybersecurity, engineering, and training solutions for government and commercial organizations, has added Melody Berry as manager of cybersecurity and compliance.
In this role, she’ll support the cybersecurity, assessment, and compliance programs of DigiFlight and Camelot Secure, a cybersecurity affiliate. She will help manage requirements across multiple industry frameworks, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) standards, and DoD contract requirements.
Berry will also lead Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) readiness engagements for DigiFlight and Camelot Secure customers, providing third-party CMMC assessments to help organizations prepare for CMMC self-attestation and third-party assessments.
“CMMC and cybersecurity compliance have become increasingly important requirements for organizations supporting the Department of Defense, and our customers need experienced professionals who understand both the technical requirements and the realities of preparing for an assessment,” said Stan Oliver, CEO of DigiFlight and Camelot Secure.
“Melody brings extensive hands-on experience in cybersecurity program management, CMMC assessments and federal compliance. Her ability to translate complex requirements into practical steps customers can take to improve security and reduce risk makes her an important addition to the DigiFlight and Camelot Secure teams,” Oliver adds.
Oak taps Bobby Ford as Board Chair
AI-native Identity OS, Oak, has named Bobby Ford, Chair Strategy Officer at Doppel, as the chair of its Executive Advisory Board.
Ford will advise Oak’s leadership on corporate strategy, go-to-market execution, customer and partner engagement, and executive communications. In addition, he will help the company deepen its relationships across the CISO, enterprise security, and IAM communities.
Ford most recently served as SVP/CSO at Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Global CISO at Unilever, and Global CISO at Abbott and Exelis, Inc.
“Bobby has earned the trust of the global security community by doing hard things at the highest level,” said Shai Morag, CEO and co-founder of Oak. “I’m excited to see what we build together, a genuine partnership between our team and the world’s security leaders, learning from each other and moving fast.”
SIOS Technology adds Charlie Mantione as Head of Sales, Americas, promotes Natalia Casey
SIOS Technology Corp. has expanded its leadership team by hiring Charlie Mantione as Head of Sales, Americas, and is promoting Natalia Casey to Director of Marketing.
Mantione will lead SIOS Technology’s global sales organization and oversee its sales strategy, customer engagement, channel development, and revenue growth initiatives. He brings over 25 years of experience in enterprise technology, communications, managed services, and service provider markets.
Casey, meanwhile, will oversee global marketing strategy, corporate communications, digital marketing, partner marketing, and demand generation efforts.
“As SIOS continues to expand its presence in the high availability and disaster recovery market, strong leadership is essential to supporting our customers, partners, and growth objectives,” said Masahiro Arai, COO, SIOS Technology.
“Charlie brings extensive experience building and scaling technology sales organizations, while Natalia has demonstrated exceptional leadership and a deep understanding of our business, customers, and market. Together, they will play a key role in advancing our global growth strategy, strengthening our engagement with customers and partners, and delivering the innovative solutions organizations need to keep their critical applications running,” Arai adds.
Dragos CEO joins ThinkLabs Board of Directors
ThinkLabs AI, an AI-powered grid intelligence company, has announced that Robert M. Lee, co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Dragos, has been named to the company’s Board.
“Rob is one of the most respected leaders in critical infrastructure today, and is the perfect partner to help ThinkLabs meet the grid’s trillion-dollar modernization challenge,” said Josh Wong, Founder and CEO of ThinkLabs. “He built Dragos into a category leader and has spent his career alongside the operators who keep critical systems running.”
“His guidance will be invaluable as we rapidly scale to help utilities meet AI’s power demands and connect large load and generation customers while supporting local communities,” Wong adds.
Percona appoints Kris Buytaert as Observability Practice Lead
Percona, an organization providing open-source database software, support, and services, announced that Kris Buytaert has joined the company as the Observability Practice Lead.
Buytaert will be tasked with expanding Percona’s observability offerings and helping shape the company’s product and partner strategy.
“We believe we can provide significantly more value to our customers by expanding our observability offerings beyond the database,” said Bennie Grant, COO, Percona.
Buytaert joins Percona from Inuits, where he was co-founder and CTO.