2022 SC Awards Finalists: Security Executive of the Year

Bill has developed and managed a strong IT development team by transforming SonicWall, including the IT department, from an SMB-focused hardware vendor into an end-to-end cybersecurity leader that protects SMBs as well as global businesses, large enterprises and government agencies. He rebalanced the company’s revenue streams for a stronger mix between hardware, software, subscription services and cloud products and energized product teams to develop and launch products in new and emerging areas, including public cloud, CASB, and SASE.

Bryson is first and foremost a cybersecurity practitioner, and his reputation as being at the top of his craft has helped him attract a high-performing team of individuals to Scythe who want to work with someone who’s widely considered a top influencer in the field of cybersecurity. In addition to that, Bryson takes a pragmatic view of cybersecurity, and focuses on solving the problems that are most likely to have a significant impact on companies and organizations. This focus presents a very difficult technical challenge, and this challenge helps to attract a development team that is filled with developers who want to work on problems that require a huge degree of creativity and considerable technical competence.

Eyal has developed and managed a strong IT development team by harnessing his own experience and expertise to foster a culture of continued innovation. Before founding IRONSCALES, Eyal was a security researcher and malware analyst at Radware and worked as technical lead for various information security solutions at Imperva. He has held a variety of R&D roles with Comverse and Amdocs, and he is an alumnus of the Israel Defense Forces’ elite Intelligence Technology Unit. Using his extensive knowledge in this industry, Eyal is driven to continue learning and innovating, and motivates his team to do this same. He takes a hands-on approach to leadership, participating in the development of the software and inspiring mutual passion between himself and his teammates.

SPHERE’s growth and success in a mature arena is a direct result of Rita’s ability to inspire a culture of innovation. She has made it her mission to cultivate an environment of autonomy and trust throughout the company to allow team members to feel empowered. Her efforts have led to a surplus of ingenuity and an intensified desire to exceed business goals within each department. That freedom to innovate without restriction combined with Rita’s steadfast passion around data protection has allowed for an expeditious product rollout to some of the largest organizations, most of which are Fortune 100 firms. Her transparent vision for the company has garnered the support of leadership peers through which she was able to grow her network and continue to spread awareness around the importance of internal IT security and cyber hygiene.

As founder of Dragos, Robert leveraged his experience in the U.S. Air Force where he served as a cyber warfare operations officer and established a first-of-its-kind ICS/SCADA threat intelligence and intrusion mission for the NSA, developing a world-renowned ICS/OT solution. The Dragos solution is a combination of virtual or physical sensors within ICS, software that runs on-prem or in the cloud, and managed threat-hunting and incident-triage services by the world’s most experienced ICS/OT security analysts and specialists in the industry. Knowing that organizations often lack the expertise or resources to protect the OT systems in electrical grids, pipelines, plants, and manufacturing equipment and processes, Robert also ensures Dragos has the most experienced workforce in the industrial cybersecurity market with 700+ years of ICS/OT experience combined.