Proofpoint Appoints David Knight, Former Cisco Executive, as Executive Vice President of Product Management and Marketing

SUNNYVALE, CA--(Marketwire - Jun 29, 2011) - Proofpoint, Inc., the leading provider of cloud-based email security and compliance solutions, today announced that it has appointed David Knight to the position of executive vice president of product management and marketing. He comes to Proofpoint from Cisco Systems, where as CTO for the Collaboration Software Group he was responsible for product and technical vision and strategy, product management, and user experience. Knight joins Proofpoint during a time of rapid growth, as more and more enterprises look to the cloud for SaaS alternatives to replace their legacy email security, data loss prevention and archiving solutions.

"David brings a wealth of SaaS product management and corporate leadership experience to this position," said Gary Steele, Proofpoint CEO. "His track record in bringing enterprise solutions to market at Cisco and WebEx is impressive, and I'm confident that he'll play a pivotal role at Proofpoint as we continue to rapidly grow market share for our SaaS security, compliance and archiving offerings."

Knight joined Cisco as part of its acquisition of cloud-based conferencing and collaboration vendor WebEx Communications. At WebEx, Knight held a variety of roles including vice president of product management and played a central role in WebEx's rapid growth and eventual $3.2 billion sale to Cisco.

Earlier he was vice president of marketing and product management at SaaS pioneer Portera Systems and an entrepreneur in residence at Institutional Venture Partners. Knight also held executive positions at Sybase and Oracle. An alumnus of Carnegie Mellon University, he earned a Bachelor's of Science in information systems and industrial management, as well as a Master's of Science in industrial administration.

"I was attracted to Proofpoint by its compelling market opportunity, outstanding enterprise customer list and deep intellectual property," said Knight. "Virtually every organization today is struggling with how to enable secure communication and collaboration while ensuring security, protecting privacy and complying with an increasingly complex regulatory landscape. I'm excited to be part of the exceptional team at Proofpoint tackling this challenge."

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About Proofpoint, Inc.
Proofpoint focuses exclusively on the art and science of cloud-based email security, eDiscovery and compliance solutions. Organizations around the world depend on Proofpoint's expertise, patented technologies and on-demand delivery system to protect against spam and viruses, safeguard privacy, encrypt sensitive information, and archive messages for easier management and discovery. Proofpoint's enterprise email solutions mitigate the challenges and amplify the benefits of enterprise messaging. Learn more at www.proofpoint.com.

Proofpoint, Proofpoint Enterprise Protection, Proofpoint Enterprise Privacy and Proofpoint Enterprise Archive are trademarks or registered trademarks of Proofpoint, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. All other trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.