Contrast Security Appoints Cybersecurity and APM Veteran Joe Sexton to Board of Directors


LOS ALTOS, Calif., June 25, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Contrast Security, the leader in next-generation application security that embeds code analysis and attack prevention directly into software, announced today that Joe Sexton has been appointed to the company’s Board of Directors. Sexton’s breadth of experience in fast-growth technology sectors will enable Contrast to continue to rapidly scale.

“We are very excited to have Joe as a new member on our board,” said Alan Naumann, CEO and Chairman at Contrast Security. “He is truly one of very few executives and board members who has experienced the meteoric rise of both cybersecurity and applications that are pivotal to every enterprise. Joe’s board experience at CrowdStrike and executive experience at AppDynamics, both of which have been at the center of enterprise transformation, gives him a unique view on how cybersecurity and application development are critical to the future. I am confident Joe will be a great asset to our board and our management team, helping Contrast to deliver value, drive growth, and capture new market opportunities.”

Sexton previously served as the President of Worldwide Field Operations at AppDynamics, where he oversaw go-to-market functions around sales, marketing, business development, and customer success and was a key member of the executive team that propelled AppDynamics to a $3.7 billion acquisition by Cisco. Prior to his tenure at AppDynamics, Sexton managed a team of 2,000 professionals at McAfee that doubled the company’s sales and contributed to a $7.7 billion acquisition by Intel.

Before McAfee, Sexton was the Senior Vice President of the Americas at Mercury Interactive where sales tripled to $1 billion—leading to a successful multibillion-dollar acquisition by Hewlett Packard. In addition to serving on the Board of Directors at CrowdStrike for five years, Sexton is on the Board of Directors at Menlo Security, D2iQ, and BRAINBOX Intelligent Marketing.

“Many organizations that were slow walking their digital transformation initiatives at the beginning of the year are now in a full-on sprint,” said Sexton. “The velocity of DevOps activity is pushing more code and more releases. But legacy application security approaches are hamstrung in addressing the requirements of modern software. Contrast’s platform approach to application security is a disruptive catalyst—accelerating digital transformation by using instrumentation to empower development, security, and operations teams to delivering business value faster without the risk and inefficiencies that plague legacy application security approaches.”

Enterprises are creating competitive advantages for themselves by differentiating customer experiences, tapping new revenue opportunities, and driving greater efficiencies through digital transformation. Contrast’s DevOps-Native AppSec Platform empowers development, security, and operations teams to deliver on the promises of digital transformation by embedding security within software using instrumentation. This inside-out approach unleashes application security to accelerate to the speed of DevOps while blocking advanced attacks on application vulnerabilities in real time.

To learn more about Joe Sexton and get his thoughts on digital innovation and application security, listen to the Inside AppSec podcast, “Application Security from the Perspective of the Board of Directors.”

About Contrast Security:

Contrast Security is the world's leading provider of security technology that enables software applications to protect themselves against cyberattacks, heralding the new era of secure software. Contrast’s patented deep security instrumentation is the breakthrough technology that enables highly accurate assessment and always-on protection of an entire application portfolio, without disruptive scanning or expensive security experts. Only Contrast has sensors that work actively inside applications to uncover vulnerabilities, prevent data breaches, and secure the entire enterprise from development, to operations, to production. More information can be found at www.contrastsecurity.com or by following Contrast on Twitter at @ContrastSec.

For more information:

OutVox for Contrast Security
Tony Keller
tkeller@outvox.com