We are delighted to announce that John Abel has been appointed as Proofpoint’s SVP and Chief Information Officer (CIO), effective immediately.
John is a seasoned and dynamic technology leader with over 30 years of experience in the IT and security industry, working at global Fortune 500 technology companies, managing teams of over 300 people and overseeing budgets of over $200M.
Having led multiple transformations of the IT business function, John has an excellent track record of achieving results by developing strong business relationships, building high-quality teams, and providing best-in-class services. Most recently, John was SVP and CIO at Extreme Networks and prior to that, held senior roles at Veritas, Ellie Mae, Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) and Symantec Corporation.
In his new role, John will be responsible for aligning Proofpoint’s information technology, global information security, and digital transformation initiatives with the company strategy and business goals. As a business-facing CIO, he will be an important voice of the customer for Proofpoint’s product teams.
Commenting on his appointment, John said: “Proofpoint is trusted by some of the world’s leading organisations and is at the forefront of cybersecurity innovation. I believe its human-centric approach and unparalleled insights into the threat landscape set it apart from the competition. I am thrilled to join such a dynamic, transformative company and I look forward to building on the exceptional work underway to advance how Proofpoint helps organisations on their journey to protect their people and defend their data.”
Rémi Thomas, Chief Financial Officer at Proofpoint added: “As Proofpoint continues to innovate at pace, we are excited to welcome John to the business to lead digital transformation initiatives aimed at accelerating business growth and agility. John’s wealth of valuable expertise in scaling both traditional and cloud-based technology businesses, along with his extensive network within the CIO community, will be invaluable in supporting our mission to be the human-centric cybersecurity partner and advisor of choice for the world’s leading organisations.”