Cylance Inc., the company that revolutionized the antivirus and endpoint protection industry with true AI-powered prevention that blocks advanced cyberattacks, including fileless attacks, malware, advanced persistent threats, and zero-day attacks, today announced the appointment of Grant Johnson as Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) and Kumud Kalia as Chief Information Officer (CIO). The company also promoted Eric Cornelius to Chief Product Officer (CPO). Johnson and Kalia bring decades of leadership experience at global enterprise technology organizations. Cornelius has over a decade of experience as a trusted security practitioner and product builder.
“Cylance’s long-term vision to protect every person and device is only possible if we continue to bolster a best-in-class leadership team,” said Stuart McClure, Chairman and CEO at Cylance. “Grant and Kumud bring a stellar track record of executive leadership and the expertise required to propel our mission and build on our proven strategy. Not only are the new executives critical to our success, we are also recognizing Eric’s exemplary product and innovation leadership. Today, our executive team is stronger than ever as we establish Cylance as the global leader in endpoint protection.”
As CMO, Johnson will lead Cylance’s global marketing strategy and execution, reporting to Daniel Doimo, President and COO. Previously, Johnson was CMO at Kofax, a robotic process automation company. Johnson led Kofax’s marketing efforts during its growth from a private company through its IPO on Nasdaq and a rollup and integration of a $700 million software portfolio. During his extensive career, Johnson also held senior marketing roles at Pegasystems, Guidance Software, FileNet Corporation, FrontBridge and Symantec and developed substantial expertise in global market expansion, product line extension and customer acquisition to help drive rapid revenue growth.
“Cylance’s commitment to protecting every endpoint from the most advanced threats is redefining cybersecurity across every vertical,” Johnson said. “As Cylance emerges as the global leader in endpoint protection, I am excited to help drive the next phase of Cylance’s growth.”
As CIO, Kalia will be responsible for the strategy, implementation and management of the infrastructure and applications that support Cylance’s business processes and rapid growth. Kalia will report to Stuart McClure, Chairman and CEO. With over 30 years of experience scaling IT systems for high-growth companies, Kalia joins Cylance from Akamai Technologies, where he led IT and business transformation to enable the company’s growth. Previously, Kalia has held CIO and operations roles within global energy, telecom and finance organizations.
“Artificial intelligence-powered prevention represents the future of security,” Kalia said. “I am thrilled to join the Cylance team, helping our customers solve their most critical security challenges. I look forward to helping the team scale the business, and to delivering an agile user experience to customers, employees and partners.”
In his role as Chief Product Officer, Cornelius will drive product and innovation, and will continue to lead Cylance’s product management and corporate development teams. As a veteran security practitioner and product builder, Cornelius joined Cylance in 2012 as head of critical infrastructure and incident response under the services team and was later promoted to VP of Innovation. He was formerly Deputy Director and Chief Technical Analyst for the Control Systems Security Program at the United States Department of Homeland Security.
“We have surpassed incredible milestones throughout my five years at Cylance,” Cornelius said. “From executing on our aggressive innovation agenda to expanding globally, the company is poised to accelerate our vision and take on new strategic opportunities.”
