- Cybersecurity investment firm NightDragon Security announced it expanded its team and advisory council
NightDragon Security — a dedicated cybersecurity investment firm — announced it has expanded on its team with the addition of Morgan Kyauk as Managing Director and the appointment of Jason Martin of FireEye, Dan Burns of Optiv, Matt Gyde of NTT Security, and Andrew Howard of Kudelski Security to its advisory council.
Morgan is the former VP of Corporate Development at FireEye where he oversaw the evaluation, execution, and integration of all acquisition, investment, and strategic partnering activity for the company. And Morgan worked with fellow NightDragon Managing Directors Dave and Ken to drive corporate development efforts at FireEye, leading up to the company’s IPO and through its transformative acquisitions. Plus Morgan has also held corporate development leadership roles at a variety of companies within the enterprise software, infrastructure, and security sectors, including Dropbox, Juniper Networks, and HP. Going forward, Morgan will be working with Dave and Ken on identifying and collaborating with entrepreneurs to grow the next generation of leading cybersecurity companies.
Martin is a technology executive and entrepreneur with over 20 years of cybersecurity experience. And Martin is currently an EVP at FireEye where he has served in leadership roles in product management, R&D, engineering, and cloud operations. Before FireEye, he was President and CEO of SecureDNA (acquired by FireEye) — which provided innovative security products and solutions to enterprises and government agencies throughout the US and Asia. Plus Martin also served as Chairman of Authy.com (acquired by Twilio) and currently sits on the advisory board for OneMedNet and the Board of Directors for ShieldX. Martin also co-authored several books covering various cybersecurity domains and is the co-founder of the ShakaCon security conference, which is focused on increasing knowledge sharing and collaboration within the security community.
Burns is the CEO of Optiv Security, which was created in 2015 as a result of the Accuvant and FishNet Security merger. From 2002 — when he co-founded Accuvant — until 2012 when he assumed his position as the company’s first CEO, Burns served as Senior Vice President of Accuvant’s sales organization. In that role, Burns was responsible for strategic planning, sales growth, and problem resolution. Burns co-developed and helped successfully execute on Accuvant’s initial vision to build a company with the breadth, depth, and capabilities to address the information security needs of organizations worldwide up until the merger with FishNet Security.
Gyde is the CEO of NTT Security — formerly known as Dimension Data’s Security Business Unit. Gyde is responsible for executing the organization’s security strategy, services, and go-to-market strategy with the goal of building the world’s most recognized security brand supported by a team of highly talented security professionals. Gyde previously held the position of Group Executive of Security for Dimension Data. And he held several roles during his tenure with Dimension Data. Before this, Gyde spent time in various security environments, from a client to a carrier to OEMs across Australia, Asia, and now global positions.
Howard is the CEO of Kudelski Security, an independent Swiss provider of tailored cybersecurity solutions to enterprises and public sector institutions. And Howard has led the company’s technical strategy, product development, engineering and research, notably the launch of the IoT Security Center of Excellence, the delivery of Secure Blueprint, and the Blockchain Security Center. Previously, Howard led an R&D laboratory focused on national defense challenges for the Georgia Tech Research Institute.
“Morgan’s corporate development experience and Jason’s product and technical vision will be immensely valuable for NightDragon companies. In addition, Dan, Matthew, and Andrew bring strong relationships that can provide a source for go-to-market scale and early insights of customer pain points,” said Dave DeWalt, Managing Director at NightDragon. The deep operating backgrounds of these additions will enable us to build great teams, form powerful go-to-market models, and deliver strategic outcomes for the entrepreneurs we work with.”
