Category: Thought Leader
Name: Rajiv Gupta
Title: CEO
Company: Skyhigh Networks
Why nominated: A thinker and an innovator, Rajiv went from highly respected researcher on the cutting edge of Web services to security entrepreneur where his focus has been trained on the cloud, helping create the cloud access security broker industry.
Profile: For his entire career, Rajiv Gupta has resided on the cutting edge of network technology then the cloud, starting with a stint as the general manager of the E-speak division at HP Labs, the group responsible for some of the earliest web services technologies – a distinction that landed the company in the Smithsonian National Museum
After leaving HP Labs, Gupta began flexing his entrepreneurial muscle in the IT industry and quickly became known for introducing disruptive enterprise technologies from web services management at Confluent, his first startup to application entitlement at Securent, whose acquisition by Cisco catapulted Gupta into the position of vice president and general manager of the Policy Management Business Unit. While at Cisco, he headed a project, the Identity Services Engine, a gamechanging initiative that snagged the company's Pioneer Award. As a result, users can audit and enforce policies consistently across the IT stack.
In 2012, when the industry widely viewed cloud as unfit for the enterprise, Gupta and his partners aimed squarely at cloud security, forming Skyhigh Network and offering a single control point for security across cloud apps. An evangelist for moving to the cloud, Gupta has keynoted the Cloud Security Alliance Summit at RSA three years in a row and has boosted the profile of the cloud access security broker.
What colleagues say: “I am often asked what separates a vendor from a partner or what separates an expert from a trusted advisor. My answer is always the same. Shared values and a vision that is consistent enough with ours to provide understanding and allow for collaboration.
In short what I look for is Empathy. Rajiv, more than any leader I have worked with embodies that definition. Rajiv is a trusted partner and advisor because he has an expansive and compelling vision that aligns with ours in all the important ways, and he seeks to understand and internalize our needs. He has empathy for his customer.”
-Ralph Loura, CTO, Rodan + Fields