Newly created roles and chief customer officers are defining the beginning of the year. As we start the new year, a significant number of leadership moves have been made across the channel.
This is just part one of the January 2026 leadership recap. Let’s dive in and stay tuned for the follow-up story later this week.
Product leaders hired across cybersecurity, data intelligence, and more
Cyderes names Lana Knop as Chief Product Officer
Cyderes, a managed cybersecurity services partner, has appointed Lana Knop as Chief Product Officer.
The former SentinelOne and Splunk product leader will be responsible for growing and scaling the organization’s product and services portfolio – following Cyderes’ recent acquisition of Lucidum – and for developing a comprehensive roadmap to deepen the company’s commitment to driving client and partner value.
“We are thrilled to welcome Lana to Cyderes, as she is the perfect person to lead our next phase of product development,” said Connor Mckenize, Chief Strategy Officer, Cyderes.
“She brings valuable leadership experience at the intersection of products and services and has launched transformational solutions at some of the world’s top cybersecurity firms. We are excited for Lana to join our executive leadership team and usher in key innovations that will build upon the unparalleled value we deliver, helping the organizations that rely on us solve their most difficult cybersecurity challenges.”
DataDome names Pradheep Sampath as Chief Product Officer
DataDome has tapped Pradheep Sampath as its new Chief Product Officer, adding proven product leadership to the company’s executive team.
Sampath brings extensive experience across identity, authentication, and fraud prevention.
“Agentic commerce is forcing a fundamental rethink of how trust is established and enforced online,” said Benjamin Fabre, co-founder and CEO of DataDome. “Pradheep has been operating at the intersection of cybersecurity and fraud prevention, translating complex risk signals into scalable, enterprise-grade product platforms. Our advanced agent trust roadmap attracted exactly the product leader we need to meet accelerating enterprise demand by extending trust beyond bot mitigation into broader, end-to-end protection.”
Prior to joining the bot and agent trust management provider, Sampath was at Entersekt as Chief Product Officer, leading global product and engineering teams and driving innovation and growth by launching next-generation authentication and fraud-prevention solutions.
Tempo Software names new Chief Product Officer and CTO
Strategic portfolio management solutions provider Tempo Software is adding to its executive leadership team by naming Kevin Nanney as Chief Product Officer and Shams Chauthani as Chief Technology Officer (CTO).
Nanney brings experience in scaling SaaS platforms, joining Tempo from Iron Mountain where he served as Senior Vice President of Global Product Management, Solutions, & Marketing.
Chauthani, meanwhile, joins Tempo from Zilliant, where he served as CTO and SVP Engineering, leading the transformation from single-product enterprise software to a cloud-native SaaS platform with six products spanning price and revenue management.
“Enterprise teams are managing more complexity than ever – balancing competing priorities, adapting to constant change, and delivering strategic impact,” said Vic Chynoweth, CEO of Tempo Software.
“Kevin and Shams bring product vision and engineering expertise that will further enhance Tempo’s ability to help our customers navigate these complexities. Their experience building and scaling enterprise software will directly translate into stronger capabilities and faster innovation for the organizations that depend on Tempo to deliver outcomes.”
Recast appoints Jake Mosey as Chief Product Officer
Recast, a modern application and endpoint management organization, has announced that Jake Mosey will join the company as Chief Product Officer.
Mosey brings experience in product strategy and development, having held strategic roles during his 17-year tenure at Jamf – most recently serving as their VP of Small- and Medium-Sized Business (SMB) markets.
“The market is rapidly evolving, and Recast is attuned to how these shifts are profoundly affecting our customers,” said Will Teevan, CEO, Recast. “An ever-increasing number of organizations adopt Intune each year, and our solutions work beautifully in tandem with this technology. With his finger on the pulse of the IT community, Jake will ensure the voice of the customer informs our strategy in creative ways as we continue to help our 70,000+ global users navigate a changing industry.”
C-suite roles expand to include customers and community focus across the channel
Pia names James Allen as the newly created Chief Community Officer
Pia, an AI-led help desk automation platform for MSPs, is naming James Allen to the newly created role of Chief Community Officer – a position that unifies community strategy and strategic alliances to support the expansion of the company’s partner ecosystem.
In this role, Allen will orchestrate community and partnerships as interconnected drivers of the company’s expansion, and build scalable programs such as advisory boards, user groups, and certifications while managing technology partnerships, distributor relationships, and co-selling initiatives with vendors.
“The creation of this role signals our belief that community and partnerships aren’t just support functions; they’re core growth drivers,” said David Schwartz, CEO of Pia. “James understands that in the MSP market, success comes from building an ecosystem where partners co-innovate, customers connect, and strategic vendors integrate into our value proposition. By unifying these efforts under one leader, we’re building a scalable growth engine that contributes directly to pipeline, revenue, and brand equity.”
Forcepoint names Eva Klein as Chief Customer Officer
Forcepoint, a cybersecurity leader, has named Eva Klein as its new Chief Customer Officer.
Klein will lead Forcepoint’s global customer success organization, overseeing onboarding, adoption, retention, and long-term value realization.
“Eva joins Forcepoint at a moment when customer success is inseparable from security outcomes,” said Rick Hanson, President of Go-to-Market, Forcepoint. “Customers need both data visibility and control to help them navigate the many unknowns and complexities of AI operationalization, risk mitigation, and compliance. Eva has built global success organizations that help customers realize value in exactly these environments, and her leadership will be critical as we continue to scale.”
Klein brings more than 25 years of experience in customer success, partner enablement, and sales – most recently serving as Vice President of Customer Success at HubSpot and Vice President of Customer Experience at Rapid7.
Ryan Toben has been named RSA’s new Chief Customer Officer
RSA, a security-first identity leader, is announcing the appointment of Ryan Toben as Chief Customer Officer, who will work to elevate the end-to-end RSA customer journey.
“High-security leaders across government, financial services, energy, healthcare, and other high-assurance industries rely on RSA to secure their teams, stay operational, and stop attacks before they start,” said RSA CEO Greg Nelson. “Ryan will ensure that our customers’ priorities continue to shape our innovation-led agenda and that they receive best-in-class support and outcomes throughout the customer journey.”
Toben previously served at Cabrio, Inc., first as SVP of Customer Success & Sales Operations, then as SVP of Customer Success & Account Management.
Halcyon announces Ryan Schultz as Chief Customer Officer
Halcyon, an anti-ransomware platform, has announced the appointment of Ryan Schultz as Chief Customer Officer, leading the organization’s global customer organization and overseeing customer success, services, and long-term value realization.
“Ryan has a proven track record of building customer organizations that deliver measurable outcomes,” said Jon Miller, CEO and Co-founder, Halcyon. “As ransomware continues to escalate into one of the most pervasive and consequential threats facing modern enterprises, our customers need more than technology. They need a trusted partner deeply focused on outcomes. Ryan’s experience and values-driven leadership will be instrumental in helping our customers succeed at scale.”
Schultz brings over 20 years of technology leadership experience in chemical R&D, airlines, energy, security, sales and marketing, and data intelligence organizations.
Smarsh and Veeam each announce multiple senior leadership appointments
Smarsh boosts leadership team with new CFO, CPO, and CSO
Communications data and intelligence providerSmarsh has made several new additions to its executive leadership team, including Kamesh Tumsi as Chief Product Officer, Goutam Nadella as Chief Strategy Officer, and Ian Goodkind as Chief Financial Officer.
Most recently serving as Senior Vice President and Head of Product at HealthEquity, Tumsi joins Smarsh to lead product execution and strengthen alignment across product, engineering, and go-to-market teams.
Formerly Smarsh’s Chief Product Officer, Nadella will transition to Chief Strategy Officer to focus on driving long-term market expansion and strategic partnerships.
After an interim period, Ian Goodkind was formally appointed Smarsh CFO, guiding the company’s financial strategy for growth and customer investment.
“These leadership additions are about delivering more value to our customers – faster,” said Kim Crawford Goodman, CEO of Smarsh. “Our customers depend on Smarsh to help them stay compliant, informed, and ahead of change. By strengthening our leadership team with seasoned operators, we’re accelerating innovation, sharpening execution, and ensuring we continue to meet our customers’ most critical needs.”
Veeam makes new senior leadership appointments
Veeam Software has made three key senior leadership appointments, including promoting a new Chief Business Development Officer, and adding a Chief Customer Officer and Vice President of Worldwide Partners.
Brandt Urban’s promotion to Chief Business Development Officer means that he will lead corporate development, mergers and acquisitions, strategic partnerships, and corporate strategy for the company. He will work closely with product and go-to-market teams.
Urban previously served as Senior Vice President, Worldwide Cloud Sales at Veeam.
Tony Colon’s Chief Customer Officer position is a newly established role. He will be tasked with owning the entire customer journey to ensure every interaction from onboarding to renewal is seamless and aligned.
He will oversee the teams for renewals, customer success, professional services, and technical support.
Michael Rau is joining Veeam as VP of Worldwide Partners, leading the company’s global partner business, focusing on developing consistent programs, incentives, and solutions across distribution, resell, SaaS, services, and strategic alliances.
He will also be charged with overseeing Veeam’s critical partnerships, including HPE, Lenovo, Pure Storage, CrowdStrike, Palo Alto, TCS, and Kyndryl.
“At Veeam, excellence isn’t just a goal – it’s our standard in every customer and partner engagement,” said John Jester, CRO at Veeam. “These new strategic appointments underscore our unwavering commitment to innovation and industry leadership. With this strengthened team, we’re not just keeping pace with change; we’re setting a new benchmark for data resilience and customer success for our customers and partners at every step of their journey toward robust data resilience and business continuity.”
Zebra Technologies strengthens APAC leadership
Zebra Technologies, a leader in digitizing and automating frontline workflows, has made several leadership appointments and expanded roles across the Asia Pacific (APAC) region.
Tom Christodoulou was named Sales Vice President overseeing Australia & New Zealand (ANZ), Southeast Asia (SEA), and Korea. He will be responsible for leading the sales strategy for the areas.
“Organizations are under immense pressure to improve productivity and meet rising customer expectations,” said Christodoulou. “We will continue helping businesses solve these challenges with intelligent automation, and I’m excited to deepen our collaboration to support their critical modernization journeys.”
Christanto Suryadarma will step into the newly created role of Head of Partnerships for APAC, leading Zebra’s partnership strategy and expanding a diverse partner ecosystem that delivers asset visibility, connected frontline workers, and intelligent automation solutions for the retail, manufacturing, transportation and logistics, and healthcare industries.
Additionally, Subramaniam Thiruppathi has been appointed Country Lead for India Subcontinent; Joelle Booi has been appointed Country Lead for Singapore; and Ryan Goh – previously Senior Vice President and General Manager of Asia Pacific – will now lead Zebra’s Global OEM business.
The end of 2025 was marked by a flurry of C-suite changes. In case you missed it, catch up on the leadership moves that ended Q4 2025.
