Today, WatchGuard welcomes its new CEO, Prakash Panjwani. The company also announced that both he and interim CEO, Mike Kohlsdorf, have joined WatchGuard’s Board of Directors.
Panjwani has spent the last 12 years turning SafeNet into the global leader in data protection. While at SafeNet, he led the strategic acquisition of 12 companies including Aladdin Knowledge Systems and Cryptocard. He also refocused the company’s data protection product portfolio on three rapidly growing markets – crypto management, data encryption, and authentication. His leadership ultimately led to the wildly successful acquisition of SafeNet by Gemalto (Euronext: GTO) for $890 million, a transaction that closed in January 2015.
“Threat management and network security continues to be top of mind for companies of all sizes. WatchGuard has built a great reputation in the industry as a leading provider of solutions in this space, bringing new products to market and receiving a tremendous amount of industry recognition in the process,” said Panjwani. “I couldn’t be more enthusiastic to take what Mike Kohlsdorf and his team have built over the last year. I am excited to build on that success, working with a talented WatchGuard team and established channel partner base, to deliver best-in-class security solutions to customers worldwide.”
This makes me a little nervous… looks like WG might be gearing itself up for a big sell. I like Watchguard for what it is not – a huge company.