Netwrix CTO Avesta Hojjati [Photo: Netwrix]

Frisco-based Netwrix, a leader in identity and data security solutions, has appointed Avesta Hojjati as the company’s new chief technology officer.

In addition, the company named former Napster executive Marcin Gierlak as VP of engineering and Kraków site leader, and Natalie Tomlin as head of channel for North America.

“With AI fueling both external attackers and data leakage, our customers are confronted by security challenges that are more complex than ever—more identities, more data, more risk,” Netwrix CEO Grady Summers said in a statement. “We’re bringing in leaders across engineering and channel to accelerate innovation and help partners improve customers’ security posture and AI governance.”

CTO has experience in ‘both the offensive and defensive sides of security’

New CTO Hojjati joins Netwrix from SecurityScorecard, where he served as CTO and led cross-functional teams spanning AI, data science, threat intelligence, product engineering, and core platform operations, taking a new platform from concept to production in under 12 months, Netwrix said.

Hojjati brings experience on both the offensive and defensive sides of security, the company said, alongside deep expertise in AI, machine learning, and distributed systems.

Before SecurityScorecard, he spent eight years at DigiCert leading engineering across IoT security, automation, and digital trust. Earlier roles include Symantec and Yahoo. He holds a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and is named on more than 45 patents.

Marcin Gierlak most recently served as VP of engineering at Napster, where he led teams focused on machine learning and AI research in production systems. He has held engineering leadership roles at HID Global and IBM and has led distributed engineering teams across multiple geographies. Based in Kraków, Poland, he’ll also serve as site leader for Netwrix’s innovation center and engineering hub in the city, Netwrix said.

Natalie Tomlin will be based in Dallas-Fort Worth [Photo: Netwrix]

Natalie Tomlin brings extensive channel and partner leadership experience across leading cybersecurity companies, including McAfee and Trellix, with additional experience building partner programs at Palo Alto Networks, Netwrix said.

Recognized by CRN as a Woman of the Channel, Tomlin has built and scaled partner-driven growth across national and commercial markets, working with MSPs and cloud providers such as AWS and Azure.

At Netwrix, she will expand the North American partner network and strengthen how the company goes to market through the channel, the company said.

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