CyberRisk Alliance appoints Malcolm Harkins to its board

Former Intel Security Chief and Cybersecurity Expert

New York, NY, October 10, 2019 -- CyberRisk Alliance (“CRA”), a business intelligence company serving the cybersecurity and information risk management marketplace, today announced the appointment of cybersecurity expert Malcolm Harkins to its board of directors. Harkins brings a depth of experience, a broad network, and an acute understanding of the challenges CISOs face as they work to articulate the value and importance of cybersecurity programs.

A respected speaker, author and award winner, Harkins is a sought-after advisor and executive coach to CISOs in a wide variety of information risk roles. He has been recognized by numerous cybersecurity organizations, including being named one of the Premier Information Technology Leaders for 2012 by Computerworld. He was also recognized by the RSA Conference in 2010 with the Excellence in the Field of Security award. Harkins is a Fellow with the Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology, a non-partisan think-tank providing advice on cybersecurity to the House, Senate, and a variety of federal agencies. An avid contributor to the cybersecurity community, Harkins has authored numerous white papers and has published a book, Managing Risk and Information Security: Protect to Enable^®.  He has held Chief Security roles at Cylance, Intel, and more recently joined Cymatic. Harkins has also testified before the United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation on the “Promises and Perils of Emerging Technology for Cybersecurity.”  He also testified at the Federal Trade Commission hearings on data security in December 2018.

CRA was founded in November 2018 by Doug Manoni, an accomplished business information executive, and equity firm Growth Catalyst Partners. Built on a strategy to disrupt the marketplace of informational, digital and intelligence resources offered to cybersecurity and other executive leaders, CRA has made rapid moves in these last several months to organically build and acquire leading businesses to solidify its position.

“When I first learned about CRA’s mission to address unmet needs in the community, I knew I had to be a part of the journey,” said Harkins. “Given the organization’s enterprising plan to establish a strong foundation of inter-related brands offering business information, news and platforms for trusted, peer-to-peer collaboration, CRA will quickly become the go-to resource for security leaders and other executives to drive improvements in their security strategies.”

The company has made several swift and momentous moves to establish and build out its portfolio. Its first acquisition occurred earlier this year when it acquired Infosec World Conference and Expo in February. This April, CRA completed an investment in the CyberSecurity Collaboration Forum, a series of regional invitation-only events, founded by Bob Dethlefs and based in Portland, Oregon. As part of that arrangement, Dethlefs, who also founded Evanta in 2003, joined CRA’s board as its chairman. More recently the company acquired SC Media, a digital information and event company serving cybersecurity other business executives, and Cybersecurity Collaboration, a peer council platform for CISOs and other senior-level security executives.

Through its early actions and investments, CyberRisk Alliance is quickly ascending to a leadership position as one of the foremost business intelligence resources to the cybersecurity and information risk management marketplace.

 “As we accelerate our efforts to better serve the cybersecurity and information risk community, we want to ensure we provide valuable yet practical insight, guidance, and mentorship to CISOs and their teams. Based on Malcolm’s professional track record and his fresh perspectives on how to address the issues we all face, it was fitting for us to ask him to join our board,” said Manoni. “His perspective will be instrumental to advancing our offerings and, ultimately, our mission. We’re both privileged and excited to invite him to our Board.”

About CyberRisk Alliance

CyberRisk Alliance is a business intelligence company founded through a partnership between Doug Manoni and Growth Catalyst Partners in November 2018, and created to serve the high-growth, rapidly evolving cybersecurity and information risk management marketplace. The company is comprised of a diversified portfolio of business information products and services with a shared mission of informing, educating and training business professionals, while building community and facilitating industry commerce. The company is pursuing an aggressive growth strategy through a combination of organic product development and a series of highly targeted acquisitions and partnerships – bringing together leading brands – and it is led by a collaborative and highly accomplished team of entrepreneurs, operators and investors. The company’s portfolio currently includes SC Media, InfoSec World Conference and Expo, the Security Leadership Exchanges, Cybersecurity Collaboration Forum and Cybersecurity Collaborative. For more information, visit www.cyberriskalliance.com.

About Growth Catalyst Partners

Growth Catalyst Partners ("GCP") is a lower-middle market private equity firm focused on information, marketing and tech-enabled services businesses. GCP’s strategy involves targeting growth segments of industries and identifying market leading companies with breakout potential. GCP partners with top executives within those industries and provides capital and expertise to the incumbent management teams of the targeted businesses. GCP was founded by veteran private equity investor Jim TenBroek and leading investment banker Scott Peters, who have led hundreds of transactions and successful investments in services businesses for over 20 years. For more information, visit www.growthcatalystpartners.com.