Proofpoint enhances leadership with industry veteran bringing deep experience in AI and driving innovation at scale 

SUNNYVALE, Calif., September 12, 2023 – Proofpoint, Inc., a leading cybersecurity and compliance company, today announced that Michael Frendo has been appointed to the newly-created role of chief technology officer, engineering, effective immediately. Reporting directly to CEO Ashan Willy and working alongside co-founder and CTO Marcel DePaolis, Frendo will spearhead the continued development of Proofpoint’s cohesive platform to thwart threats across the most critical stages of the attack chain.  

Frendo has more than 25 years of global technology experience overseeing all aspects of the full product lifecycle, including product definition, architecture, and development, across SaaS, cloud, and security. He has specialized in new disruptive technologies and the re-imagination of product development methodologies. 

Frendo joins Proofpoint from Journey.ai, a Denver-based digital identity platform focused on privacy and security solutions. Prior to that role, he led global engineering teams at Cisco, Polycom, and Juniper. 

“As Proofpoint expands its portfolio to break the attack chain by protecting people and securing data, we continue to build on our successful, market-leading platform. Michael brings a deep understanding of how engineering and innovation will accelerate our best-in-class unified approach to addressing organizations’ biggest challenges,” said Ashan Willy, Chief Executive Officer at Proofpoint. “Proofpoint is relentlessly focused on delivering world-class technology and customer service that solve the problems that matter most to security and compliance professionals, rooted in relentless innovation. I look forward to working with Michael to execute on this critical goal.” 

“Proofpoint has brought some of the most advanced security products to market, and I am excited to work with some of the greatest minds in the cybersecurity industry,” said Michael Frendo. “I couldn’t be more excited to join Proofpoint as they accelerate their pace of innovation and their ongoing work around AI to protect customers in an ever-evolving threat landscape.” 

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About Proofpoint, Inc. 

Proofpoint, Inc. is a leading cybersecurity and compliance company that protects organizations’ greatest assets and biggest risks: their people. With an integrated suite of cloud-based solutions, Proofpoint helps companies around the world stop targeted threats, safeguard their data, and make their users more resilient against cyber attacks. Leading organizations of all sizes, including 85 percent of the Fortune 100, rely on Proofpoint for people-centric security and compliance solutions that mitigate their most critical risks across email, the cloud, social media, and the web. More information is available at www.proofpoint.com. 

Connect with Proofpoint: Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook | YouTube  

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Proofpoint is a registered trademark or tradename of Proofpoint, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. All other trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.