Mike Pierce – Chief Executive Officer
Pierce has nearly 30 years experience in the enterprise technology market having served in sales management, product management, business development, partner programs and channel development roles. Breach Security is Pierce’s fourth start-up. He has also held key positions with global leaders including Xerox, McGraw Hill, and Candle Corporation, as well as overseeing business units for Boole & Babbage, Tivoli/IBM, and SupportSoft. Much of Pierce’s experience has been in international markets including living in Japan for two years while managing Asian operations for SupportSoft. He holds a degree in business administration from the University of Kansas.
Craig Kussman – Chief Financial Officer
Craig Kussman is the Chief Financial Officer for Breach Security, Inc. A senior-level executive with nearly 30 years of experience, Kussman has an extensive background in finance, strategy and operations for organizations ranging from start-ups to multinational corporations. His broad base of experience includes IPOs, mergers & acquisitions, turn-around and high-growth companies. He has held key positions with Ascenta Therapeutics, Inc., Discovery Partners International, Inc., Synavant, Inc., IMS Health Incorporated, Cognizant Corporation and The Dun & Bradstreet Corporation. Kussman graduated Cum Laude with a B.A. in economics and mathematics from Pomona College. He also holds an MBA in finance from The Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania where he graduated with distinction. Kussman has also lectured at the University of Pennsylvania.
Ivan Ristic – Chief Evangelist
Ivan Ristic is the Chief Evangelist for Breach Security, Inc. as a result of the recent acquisition of Thinking Stone Ltd. and its ModSecurity open source web application firewall. At Breach Security, Ristic will focus primarily on educating the market about the security risks associated with conducting business on the web. He will also continue to improve the open source ModSecurity project as well as incorporate ModSecurity technology into Breach Security’s WebDefend architecture. Prior to moving to the computer security field, Ristic spent a number of years working as a developer, system architect, and technical director in the software development industry. He authored Apache Security for O’Reilly (http://www.apachesecurity.net), a concise yet comprehensive web security guide for administrators, system architects, and programmers. Ristic earned a BSc with honors in Information Technology and Computing from the Open University. He also completed coursework at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Belgrade.
Sanjay Mehta – Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing
Sanjay brings ten years of internet security sales, business development, and marketing experience to Breach. He has a successful track record of growing company revenues both directly and through strategic partnerships. Most recently he was VP of Marketing and Business Development at tightly held NetSift where he orchestrated an acquisition by Cisco Systems one year after the founding of the company. Before NetSift, Sanjay held executive positions with Teros (acquired by Citrix) and TruSecure (now CyberTrust). Earlier in his career, Sanjay held management positions with AXENT Technologies (acquired by Symantec), and Hewlett Packard. He holds a Masters of Science degree in computer information systems from Colorado State University.
Jeff Vance – Vice President, Sales
Jeff Vance is the Vice President, Sales for Breach Security, Inc. He has a 15-year successful track record in significantly growing direct and indirect sales revenue with enterprise software companies. Vance most recently served as Vice President of Sales for North America for Mincom where he was responsible for over 100% sales revenue growth across all product lines and verticals during his tenure. Prior to Mincom, Vance was Vice President and Managing Director at Cordys where he helped launch the company in North America and was responsible for delivering double-digit sales growth across newly developed regions. Prior to Cordys, Vance was Director of Channels as well as Regional Sales Manager at BroadVision, where he developed their ASP and OEM practice, as well as rebuilding key regions for direct sales. Before joining BroadVision, he held various direct sales roles with enterprise software and services organizations. Vance holds a BA in marketing from Southern Methodist University (SMU).
Ofer Shezaf – Vice President, Security Research
Shezaf leads IT security research for Breach Security, Inc. where he is responsible for defining security features for Breach Security’s products and driving the diverse research activities of Breach Security Labs, the research arm of Breach Security. His research program is focused on the design and operations of web application firewalls including leading the Core Rule Set project, an open source project for generic detection of application layer attacks. Shezaf serves as an officer of the Web Application Security Consortium (WASC) where he leads the Web Hacking Incidents Database project. He also leads the Israeli chapter of the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP). Prior to joining Breach Security, Shezaf was a group manager and later a special advisor on national infrastructure protection for the Israeli government and intelligence forces.
Doron Kolton – Vice President, Research and Development
Doron brings to Breach Security more than 20 years of experience in software engineering and management, including 13 years at Motorola Semiconductor Israel. Doron specializes in real-time systems, hardware/software integration, communications protocols, local area networks, and simulation. At Motorola, he served as a project leader, software engineer, software group manager and, most recently, software department manager.
Brigitte Engel – Vice President, Marketing
Brigitte Engel is a technology marketing veteran with more than 20 years experience. She has been instrumental in marketing new technologies for Fortune 500 companies and start-ups with significant experience in developing brands, communications strategy, product launches and demand generation. Prior to joining Breach Security, Brigitte served as the Senior Director, Marketing for Websense. During her tenure, the company was successfully repositioned within the security IT market. Brigitte also held marketing leadership positions with Magis Networks, a wireless semiconductor company, Wireless Knowledge, a Microsoft / Qualcomm wireless data start-up and Motorola (formerly General Instrument) where she launched HDTV, digital satellite systems and the first cable modem. Brigitte holds a B.S. in Journalism from San Diego State University.