Rémi Thomas succeeds Paul Auvil as chief financial officer, bringing over 30 years’ experience across the technology sector

SUNNYVALE, Calif., February 22, 2023 – Proofpoint, Inc., a leading cybersecurity and compliance company, today announced that Rémi Thomas has been appointed as chief financial officer, effective immediately. He succeeds Paul Auvil, who is stepping down as CFO of Proofpoint after having served in the role for the past 16 years.

Rémi Thomas joins Proofpoint from Extreme Networks, where he was the chief financial officer. He brings over 30 years of global experience, with demonstrated leadership across all finance functions for both large and small technology organizations, as well as strong credibility with the investor and financial analyst community.

Paul Auvil departs, having made significant contributions, including guiding Proofpoint through a successful IPO in 2012, scaling the business to over $1 billion in revenue, and taking the company private through its acquisition by Thoma Bravo in 2021, its largest take private deal to date.

“Paul’s steady financial leadership of Proofpoint over the years is a testament to his unwavering commitment to deliver unparalleled stakeholder value while driving profitable growth throughout the company’s journey, and we wish him the very best in his next endeavor,” said Ashan Willy, chief executive officer at Proofpoint. “Proofpoint’s mission continues to be delivering world-class technology and customer service that solve problems that matter most to security and compliance professionals. That won’t change as we expand into areas such as data protection and identity threat, while continuing to lead in email and cloud security. I look forward to working with Rémi to execute on this critical mission.” 

During Rémi’s tenure at Extreme Networks, the company completed two acquisitions, returned to double-digit growth, increased its operating margin to the mid-teens and successfully launched a subscription-based software business. Rémi also held senior finance roles at CA Technologies and HPE Software, a business unit of Hewlett Packard Enterprise as well as Alcatel-Lucent in Paris and Shanghai.

“The sustained corporate growth that Proofpoint has demonstrated, paired with its enviable roster of top-tier customers and recognized technical innovation, make it one of the most transformative players in the cybersecurity industry today,” said Rémi Thomas. “I am thrilled to be joining Proofpoint at this pivotal time in the company’s history and have the opportunity to support its next phase of growth as a market leader that helps organizations of all sizes navigate an ever-dynamic cyber 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 more than half of the Fortune 1000, 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.

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

PROOFPOINT MEDIA CONTACT:

Estelle Derouet
Proofpoint, Inc.
pr@proofpoint.com