Cybersecurity firm RSA Security has made a big change at the top. Rohit Ghai, who has been CEO for almost eight years, will depart that role and transition to a strategic advisory role. Greg Nelson, current President and Chief Business Officer, will succeed Ghai as CEO.
“RSA has built momentum, and we’re ready to move faster, innovate more boldly, and scale our business to capture new opportunities,” Nelson said.
So what will this faster movement and bolder innovation consist of? There appear to be four strategic pillars.
One change in focus will be to passwordless – eliminating reliance on passwords to improve security and user experience. Another will be a stronger focus on AI (artificial intelligence), leveraging AI to enhance threat detection, prevention, and response. A third change will be to posture management, and will involve strengthening governance, risk, and compliance capabilities. Finally, there will be increased focus on the highest-assurance identity solutions. protecting the most security-sensitive organizations.
Nelson is a seasoned SaaS executive who has more than 30 years of software, data, technology and private equity experience, most recently as President and Chief Business Officer of SecurID, which like RSA, is a Clearlake Capital Group company. Before joining SecurID, Nelson served as the Chief Commercial Officer at Omnitracs, where he led all go-to-market functions globally. Nelson has been with RSA for nearly four years, reimagining the company’s go-to-market approach to be customer-first and growth-focused. Nelson is expected to lead RSA into this next phase of accelerated growth, and will continue working to build RSA’s strong foundation to deliver innovation and scale in ways that meet the evolving needs of its global customer base.
“Market forces, our customers’ trust in the value of our technology, the depth of our team and the quality of our investors have SecurID poised for a new period of rapid growth,” Nelson said, when he assumed the SecurID role. “I’m thrilled to join SecurID to help the organization build on its success and elevate its position as the world’s trusted identity platform.”
Under Ghai’s leadership, RSA navigated its carve-out from Dell Technologies, separated into independent businesses, returned to growth, and modernized its core offerings. During this time the company also sharpened its focus on identity security, transformed from an on-premises point product company to a SaaS-based identity security platform, and reaffirmed its leadership in serving the world’s most security-sensitive organizations.
“I am honored to share that I will be stepping into the role of CEO at RSA Security on September 15th,” Nelson stated. “Over the past 3+ years, I have seen firsthand the creativity, resilience and passion of the RSA team – and the incredible opportunity ahead in identity. I am energized to lead alongside this talented group as we write the next chapter together.
“A sincere thanks to Rohit Ghai for his leadership and mentorship, and to STG – Symphony Technology Group and Clearlake Capital Group for their support and confidence in our vision,” Nelson added. “The future of RSA is bright, and I look forward to building it with our people, our customers, and our partners.”
“With favourable market trends and clear competitive advantages, we believe RSA is uniquely positioned to accelerate its growth,” said Prashant Mehrotra, Partner and Managing Director at Clearlake Capital Group. “We are confident that Greg’s leadership and focus on innovation across these four strategic pillars will drive the company’s momentum in the years ahead.”