Jump to content

David DeWalt Joins FireEye as Chairman of the Board of Directors

FireEye continues rapid growth in all areas, expands board with former McAfee president and CEO and former Google SVP of engineering Bill Coughran

MILPITAS, Calif. - Jun 19, 2012 – FireEye®, Inc., the leader in next-generation threat protection, today announced that David DeWalt, former president and chief executive officer of McAfee, Inc., has joined as chairman of the board of directors. Sequoia Capital partner and former Google senior vice president of engineering Bill Coughran has also joined the board. This announcement comes in the midst of the company’s rapid expansion, including nearly tripling revenue and headcount in 2011 and adding hundreds of new customers in the past few quarters, many in the Fortune 500.

"I have been watching FireEye for a while and they are the clear leader in addressing this next generation of cyber threats," said DeWalt. "The security industry is at a pivotal moment given the unprecedented rate of cyber attacks compromising enterprises and government agencies. The technology and talent at FireEye as well as the massive security problem they solve is what drew me here. I look forward to helping further accelerate their already explosive growth and redefine the model of IT security."

DeWalt has over 25 years of experience building innovative, industry-leading technology companies and is a recognized authority on cybersecurity. Most recently, he served as president, chief executive officer, and director of McAfee, Inc. Prior to McAfee, DeWalt held executive positions at technology companies including Oracle, EMC, Documentum, Intel, Segue Software, and Quest Software. He has been named one of the top five CEOs of publicly traded software companies by Institutional Investor magazine. DeWalt is a frequent speaker at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland and in May 2011 he was appointed by President Obama to serve on the National Security Technology Advisory Council.

"Dave is a great addition to the team. Not only does Dave have deep knowledge of the security industry, he also brings a wealth of strategic and operational experience leading fast-growth, innovative technology companies," said Ashar Aziz, FireEye founder and chief executive officer. "His leadership as chairman of the board will be invaluable as we take FireEye into the next stage of our rapid growth."

Coughran is currently at Sequoia Capital focused on early and growth stage startups. Prior to joining Sequoia, Coughran was senior vice president of engineering at Google, on the executive committee, and advisor to the founders and Eric Schmidt.

DeWalt and Coughran join an already robust board and management team with extensive experience in cyber security, led by one of the most recognized industry experts, founder and CEO Ashar Aziz. Under this leadership team the company is experiencing record growth. Highlights include:

  • Significant business growth, including nearly tripling revenue and headcount in 2011.
  • Hundreds of new customers in the most recent two quarters. FireEye’s customers represent the leaders across every industry, including top financial institutions, manufacturing, retail, energy, and high tech companies as well as over 60 government agencies.
  • Expanded corporate headquarters and rapid international growth with new locations in London, Tokyo, Korea, and Singapore.
  • Launch of an integrated cyber security solution that uniquely detects and blocks advanced cyber attacks across Web, email, and files, including the capability to detect attacks such as Flame, Stuxnet, and Aurora. FireEye’s technology finds malware in over 95% of the sites where it is deployed.
  • The largest advanced malware threat intelligence cloud in the world that spans all major verticals.
  • New additions to the executive management team including Alexa King, VP, general counsel, and corporate secretary; Tom Schaeffer, VP of human resources; and Anthony James, VP of product management.

Online Resources

About FireEye, Inc.

FireEye is the leader in stopping advanced targeted attacks that use advanced malware, zero-day exploits, and APT tactics. The FireEye solutions supplement traditional and next generation firewalls, IPS, anti-virus, and gateways, which cannot stop advanced threats, leaving security holes in networks. FireEye offers the industry's only solution that detects and blocks attacks across both Web and email threat vectors as well as latent malware resident on file shares. It addresses all stages of an attack lifecycle with a signature-less engine utilizing stateful attack analysis to detect zero-day threats. Based in Milpitas, California, FireEye is backed by premier financial partners including Sequoia Capital, Norwest Venture Partners, and Juniper Networks.

Find us on Twitter and Facebook.

Media Contacts:

FireEye, Inc.
Lisa Matichak
+1.408.321.6300
pr@fireeye.com

Lewis Pulse
Katherine Nellums
+1.415.432.2451
Katherine.nellums@lewispulse.com

# # #

FireEye is a trademark of FireEye, Inc. All other brands, products, or service names are or may be trademarks or service marks of their respective owners.