I’m an Industry Veteran Who Has Seen the Evolution of Technology Firsthand. Here’s Why I Joined Netskope.

After spending more than 38 years in technology and related roles, I have acquired the profile, skills, and experience to pursue many roles across multiple industries. Being a technologist, cyber expert, attorney, adjunct professor, and coach gave me many options, as I contemplated a shift to a portfolio career. 

With that in mind, there are two major reasons I joined Netskope: the products and the culture. 

The Products

I have been a consumer and buyer of technology for many decades and I’m constantly looking at the future of business and how technology will enhance or change the path to success.  Netskope has a great suite of products that are leading the charge on where business technology is going. Future forward strategies are personal for me. Innovations have been at the core of successive phases of my career, and key to the success of companies I have worked with over the decades. As more companies digitize their businesses, the need for more technological capability and capacity increases, but at this time, it is accompanied by a reduced appetite for buying and building technology in-house. The cloud is the answer— specifically, multiple clouds. Add the mobility of the workforce, customers, and partners, and the vast proliferation of business data, and the cloud becomes a strategic resource of the future.  

The risk of placing these workloads in the cloud must be managed aggressively, which is where Netskope’s products shine. The innovation continues and Netskope will be the most important inspection point for all digital traffic, helping to enable the future of compute. 

The Culture

Netskope is a rapidly growing, agile start-up with an open, collaborative, and flexible culture. This culture allows individuals to develop and grow, without the traditional constraints of large organizations. This is personally important to me, as this is the type of flexibility that gave me a chance to grow and excel, early in my professional life. I want to continue to support organizations that promote growth and non-traditional paths to success. My own path was exactly that. 

You may wonder, how did I know about the culture, before joining and experiencing the culture?  I know many well-respected, highly effective security leaders from around the industry who joined Netskope, and many others who partner with Netskope. So, I actively went outside the formal process to gather intelligence and seek advice. 

I also want to be a part of companies that enable me to engage with a broad business community and give back. Here are two examples of how I’m giving back to the business community:

1. I serve as an independent director on public and private company boards, which allows me to shape the culture and manage strategic risks,  using decades of experience to help benefit shareholders and stakeholders of companies.  

2. I take great joy in sharing a lifetime of learning with others. Netskope supports my role as a coach to develop industry leaders, as they adapt to being strategic, essential contributors to their organizations. As an adjunct professor, I also spend time teaching the next generation of legal professionals on how technology is changing the world and how to manage risks and embrace benefits.

Netskope supports me in all of these opportunities to serve the business, technology, and security communities. I look forward to what we can accomplish here together!