Allegis Capital Adds Two More Cybersecurity Industry Experts

PALO ALTO, CA--(Marketwired - Aug 17, 2015) - John Stewart, the leader of Cisco Systems' Security and Trust Organization, and Joe Levy, chief technology officer of Sophos, a developer of computer security software and hardware, have been named as venture partners at Allegis Capital the firm announced today.

Stewart, and Levy, are two of eight venture partners at Allegis, which focuses on investments in early-stage cybersecurity companies.

Stewart is on the board of Allegis portfolio company Shape Security and previously was an executive at Allegis portfolio company SandPiper/Digital Island. Levy was previously the chief technology officer of Allegis portfolio company Solera Networks.

"Stewart and Levy add additional strength to an already strong team of venture partners," said Robert Ackerman, founder and managing director of Allegis Capital. They have worked with Allegis in one capacity or another for years and have deep technology, market and operating expertise, as well as long histories in cyber security.

"John and Joe are two proven veterans in cyber security and their experience will not only reinforce our strength in cyber security investing but will be invaluable to our firm and help us better serve our entrepreneurs," Ackerman said. "They know the cyber security landscape well and will give our portfolio companies both strategic guidance and business execution if need be. They are deeply connected and have unmatched insights," Ackerman added.

Stewart and Levy Backgrounds

John Stewart formed and leads Cisco's Security and Trust Organization, underscoring Cisco's commitment to address two of the most critical issues that are top of mind for boardrooms and world leaders alike. Supplementing his role at Cisco, Stewart sits on technical advisory boards for Area 1 Security (also an Allegis portfolio company), BlackStratus, and Threatstream. In addition to Shape Security, he is a member of the board of directors at Shadow Networks and the National Cyber-Forensics Training Alliance (NCFTA). He also serves as a special advisor to Redseal's board of directors. Additionally, Stewart serves on the Australian Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet Cyber Security Review panel and on the Cybersecurity Think Tank at University of Maryland University College.

Stewart also served on the CSIS Commission on Cybersecurity for the 44th United States Presidency. Most recently, he was recognized with the RSA 2015 award for Excellence in Security.

Levy, who has more than 20 years of leadership and development expertise in information security, joined Sophos as chief technology officer in February 2015. Prior to Sophos, Joe was CTO for Blue Coat Systems, and, before that, CTO of Solera Networks. Prior to Solera, Joe was CTO of SonicWall, where he led research and development teams in next-generation firewalls, deep packet inspection, cryptography and secure remote access. Earlier in his career, Joe worked with OneNet.

Levy holds several security, networking database and virtualization patents. He has also co-authored a book on wireless network security.

Levy and Stewart Join Six Other Allegis Venture Partners

The other venture partners at Allegis are Nawaf Bitar, senior vice president of VMware and general manager of its cloud platform business unit; Hossein Eslambolchi, founder, chairman and CEO of Cyberflow Analytics; Tom Gillis, founder and CEO of Bracket Computing; Todd Rowe, managing director of global channel sales at Google; Jeff Williams, vice president of worldwide sales and business development at FireEye; and Jean-Louis Gassée, a long-time Allegis partner and founder of Be Inc., the creator of the BeOS computer operating system.

About Allegis Capital

Allegis Capital is a seed and early-stage venture capital investor in companies building disruptive and innovative cyber security solutions for the global digital economy. Founded in 1996, the firm has more than $700 million in capital under management and has been active in cyber security investing since 2000. Its cyber security portfolio includes: Area 1 Security, Bracket Computing, E8 Security, Red Owl Analytics, Platfora, Shape Security, Signifyd, Synack and vArmour. For more information, visit www.allegiscap.com