Industry luminary brings depth in technology and market expertise to growing industry leader for data-centric security
Medford, NJ, June 16, 2015 - Watchful Software, a leading provider of data-centric information security solutions, today announced the election of prominent industry executive Greg Akers to its Board of Directors. Akers currently serves as the Senior Vice President of Advanced Security Initiatives - Cisco Security and Trust Organization.
“We’re excited to have Greg join our team, as he’s one of the foremost industry executives and is tasked with some of today’s greatest challenges in keeping information safe as it traverses the globe,” stated Charles Foley, CEO of Watchful Software. “The most recent market studies clearly confirm that our industry is shifting from a network-centric to a data-centric approach to security, due to the explosion of BYOD and Cloud paradigms. Our task is to remain at the forefront of that shift for our customers, and Greg brings tremendous insight and experience to ensure that happens.”
Akers has over two decades of experience with Cisco in a variety of technical, managerial and executive roles throughout its rapid growth years, including postings as Vice President for the Worldwide Technical Assistance Center, Senior Vice President Advanced Security Research Group – Security and Trust Organization. In addition, Akers serves as an Internet security and critical infrastructure protection advisor to Cisco customers and the U.S. government, regularly advising/directing activities relative to technology and security matters of domestic and international importance. He has served as President of the IT-Information Sharing and Analysis Center (ISAC) organization, and has also advised the U.S. Department of Defense and the federal intelligence community for more than fifteen years. Akers served as a member of the National White-Collar Crime Board and the Board of Directors of the East Carolina Infraguard, and presently serves on various boards, panels and task forces within the U.S. Department of Defense and the technology industry.
“It is with a great deal of excitement that I join the Watchful team, as it’s clear that they address one of the most critical issues in technology today – securing information regardless of where it goes or who touches it. The evolution from network security barriers to having the classification and security embedded with the information itself is the only way to ensure that sensitive information remains safe in today’s borderless cyberspace, and the Watchful leadership team has aligned their technology, strategy, and business processes to be a significant part of that industry evolution.”
Manish Thakur, Managing Partner of Hudson Fairfax Group, added, “We invested in Watchful last year due to the convergence of a massive market need with a leading-edge technology and a world-class team; our task then became to position the company for explosive growth. A key component of that is to ensure that we have the right leadership to navigate this explosion, and we couldn’t be happier to have an industry executive of Greg Akers’caliber join our team. Leading analysts, customers, and industry pundits have confirmed Watchful’s leadership position, and we believe that the addition of Greg will only serve to further our lead.”
