CYCOGNITO LEADERSHIP

Rob Gurzeev, CEO and Co-Founder of CyCognito, has led the development of offensive security solutions for both the private sector and intelligence agencies. Prior to founding CyCognito, he was Director of Offensive Security and head of R&D at C4 Security (acquired by Elbit Systems) and the CTO of the Product Department of the 8200 Israeli Intelligence Corps. Honors that he received as an Israel Defense Forces Officer included Award for Excellence, the Creative Thinking Award and the Source of Life Award.

Dima Potekhin, CTO and Co-Founder of CyCognito, is an expert in mass-scale data analysis and security. He is an autodidact who has been coding since the age of nine and holds four patents that include processes for large content delivery networks (CDNs) and internet-scale infrastructure. Prior to founding CyCognito, he founded multiple companies, including Epicycle Technologies, a software consulting firm specializing in big data, computer vision, image processing, geographic information systems and other domains requiring huge scale and complex mathematical algorithms; and Metaqube, that developed a cutting edge city-scale augmented reality technology for mobile devices. As a Software Engineer and Security Researcher in the Israel Defense Forces, he participated in a project that received the prestigious Israel Defense Prize.

Hed Bar-Nissan, Vice President of Engineering, has a depth of experience leading large-scale product and infrastructure development and driving the performance of multidisciplinary professional teams in global environments. He is passionate about visualizing data and turning it into knowledge. Prior to joining CyCognito, he was Head of Data Engineering at Wix.com.

Michael Trites, Senior Vice President of Global Sales, has nearly 30 years of experience leading successful sales, field engineering and channel teams. His thoughtful leadership ensures that all his relationships – from team members, customers to partner­ alliances — receive complete satisfaction. Prior to joining CyCognito Michael was the Executive Vice President of Sales at BigID, Vice President of Sales, Americas at Zimperium and has held numerous sales management positions at leading technology companies including Riverbed, NitroSecurity, and Enterasys Networks (formerly Cabletron Systems).

Ansh Patnaik, SVP of Product Management, has over 20 years of cross functional experience in cybersecurity and data analytics. Most recently, Ansh was Director, Cloud Security Products for Google Cloud Platform, and Chief Product Officer for Chronicle, prior to the acquisition of Chronicle by Google. Previously, he was VP of Product Management at Oracle Cloud where he defined and launched their security analytics cloud service offering. Ansh has held product management, product marketing and sales engineering leadership roles at several market leading software companies including Delphix, ArcSight (acquired by HP), and BindView (acquired by Symantec). 

Lori Cornmesser, vice president of worldwide channel sales, began her career in the channel more than 25 years ago. Her leadership and strategic vision have resulted in multiple awards for her work, including being named a CRN Channel Chief and recognized by CRN Magazine as a Top Woman in the Channel. Prior to joining CyCognito, she held executive positions at Infoblox, Ixia, Juniper Networks, and Riverstone Networks. Lori earned an MBA in International Business studies from Columbus University.

Raphael Reich, Vice President of Marketing, has held cybersecurity leadership roles for the past 20 years and contributed to IPOs at Imperva, Varonis and Echelon. Prior to joining CyCognito, he was Head of Product Marketing at Contrast Security, where he built the product marketing and product management teams and helped drive ~100% year-over-year revenue growth through compelling content, sales tools and campaigns.

Oded Simon, Senior Vice President of Operations, has deep experience supporting technology startups in their growth from formation through all stages of development, particularly in the areas of operations, fundraising and business development. Prior to joining CyCognito, he ran a business development and consultancy practice and was a Partner at Baratz & Company.

Christine Carrig, Head of Growth Marketing, has over 25 years experience building revenue-generating marketing programs for technology companies. For the past 15 years she has been instrumental in helping early-stage cybersecurity companies build brand, grow demand and drive revenue to achieve breakout success. Christine has held leadership roles at WhiteHat Security (acquired by NTT), Appthority (acquired by Symantec), Contrast Security, Valimail and now leads demand generation and growth initiatives here at CyCognito. Christine received a BA in Management, graduating with honors, from St. Mary’s College.

Richard Villasenor, Head of Global Customer Success, has been managing customer relationships for technology companies for the last 20 years. He established Customer Success practices in presales, professional services, advisory and consulting services at three different companies prior to joining CyCognito: Zscaler, MobileIron and NIKSUN. With deep experience in Customer Success, he is passionate about his team’s role in partnering with the customer to develop proactive customer communications, advocacy and overall successful engagement.

Michal Weinstein, Senior Director of Finance, is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) with experience in both public and private global organizations. Prior to CyCognito, Michal held Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A) roles at Guesty, AppsFlyer and Compugen, and was the Senior Corporate Controller at Compugen. She started her career with Ernst & Young as a CPA.

Amber Tallerico, Director of Sales Operations, has over 20 years experience managing and supporting sales systems and methodologies that increase sales force efficiency and productivity. She has extensive experience leveraging sales force automation platforms and performance metrics to ensure alignment and visibility. A Salesforce.com Administrator for the past 17 years, Amber has held Sales Operations roles at Contrast Security, Clarizen, Milton Security and Vernier Networks.