FireEye announces leadership changes

FireEye, Inc. of Milpitas, CA announced on May 5 that Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer David DeWalt will assume the role of executive chairman of the board, and Kevin Mandia, currently FireEye president, will succeed DeWalt as CEO. These leadership changes are among a number of management moves made by FireEye to position the company for future growth.

FireEye also announced that Mandiant President Travis Reese will become president of FireEye and that Chief Financial Officer Mike Berry has been named chief operating officer in addition to his role as chief financial officer.

All of these leadership changes will be effective on June 15, 2016, the day following the FireEye annual shareholder meeting.

The company announced that the FireEye Board of Directors has appointed board member and former Symantec CEO Enrique Salem as lead independent director.

“With these leadership announcements, FireEye has moved to solidify our position in the market today and more importantly, prepare us for growth opportunities going forward,” said DeWalt. “FireEye has succeeded in creating a security company with the innovative solutions and business model necessary to confront advanced cyber risks today and into the future. FireEye stands apart in the security industry with a powerful platform, a differentiated approach to cyber defense and now, an even stronger senior leadership team.”

“FireEye moves forward in 2016 with an exceptionally strong and experienced senior management team and outstanding leaders across all of our functional areas,” said Mandia. “With the combination of FireEye services, intelligence, and products, I believe that our global threat management platform is poised to dominate the future of cybersecurity, and we’ve taken steps to create a senior leadership team that can build on this opportunity.”

In this role as executive chairman, DeWalt will remain active in the company’s operations, working with the management team to increase adoption of the FireEye Threat Management Platform, with a focus on the company’s multi-channel go-to-market strategies. FireEye CEO since November of 2012 and chairman since May of that year, DeWalt grew the business nearly 100 percent every year during his tenure. Under his leadership FireEye expanded its global presence, created a comprehensive suite of security products and services, and launched its innovative security as a service business model. The company also extended its capabilities with the acquisition of a number of companies, including Mandiant, nPulse, iSIGHT and Invotas.

Mandia was named FireEye president in February 2015 and was appointed to the FireEye Board of Directors in February of this year. Mandia previously served as FireEye senior vice president and chief operating officer from December 2013, when FireEye acquired Mandiant, the company he founded in 2004. As CEO of Mandiant, he grew the company to nearly 500 employees with more than $100 million in revenue. Mandiant, widely recognized as the leading provider of security incident management products and services prior to the acquisition, remains the core of the highly successful FireEye consulting business. Mandia has spent more than 20 years in information security and has been on the front lines helping organizations respond to computer security breaches.

“Kevin Mandia is the obvious choice to lead FireEye in the next phase of our journey, as we expand our product and service offerings, extend our reach worldwide, evolve our business, and influence the way the world thinks about cyber security,” said DeWalt. “Kevin was instrumental in bringing FireEye and Mandiant together and in the development of the security solutions, services and delivery models that are core to our strategy today. We are fortunate to have Kevin – one of the security industry’s most powerful and respected voices and most sought-after cyber defense experts – as a member of our executive leadership team. Kevin and I share a common vision for FireEye and our industry, and I look forward to supporting him in his new role as FireEye CEO.”

Reese, who joined FireEye when the company acquired Mandiant, had served as Mandiant’s president and chief operating officer. He previously supported some of the most sensitive programs in the national intelligence and defense communities.

Berry led finance and other operations for a number of technology companies before joining FireEye in September 2015. Berry has played an essential role in the strengthening of FireEye’s financial infrastructure and the global operations in support of the company’s plans to evolve and scale its business.

A FireEye board director since February 2013, Salem was president, chief executive officer and a director of Symantec Corporation from April 2009 until July 2012. He has been a managing director of Bain Capital Ventures since July 2014.

“I am passionate about combatting today’s increasingly complex and widespread cyber threats, and I’m excited by this opportunity to take the battle to a new level as CEO of FireEye,” said Mandia. “Dave and our management team have succeeded in creating a security company with the technology, intelligence and expertise necessary to confront today’s advanced cyber risks. With today’s leadership announcements, I believe we’ve positioned FireEye for even great success in the future.”

Source: FireEye, Inc.