SafeNet Announces Executive Appointments

BALTIMORE
February 14, 2012

SafeNet, Inc., a global leader in data protection, today announced that it has expanded its executive team to maximize near- and long-term growth opportunities in the cloud and in the enterprise. Drawing on the strengths of world-class security professionals and proven internal veterans, the company plans to stay ahead of the rapidly increasing demand for the cryptographic security of valuable information.

The company announced that Tsion Gonen will assume the newly created role of Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer, Sangeeta Anand has joined the company as General Manager and Corporate Vice President for Enterprise/Commercial Data Protection, and Slawek Ligier has joined as Corporate Vice President, Product Development.

Tsion Gonen, SafeNet's Corporate Vice President of Product & Marketing, will assume expanded responsibilities as SafeNet’s Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer. Gonen will play a key leadership role in developing SafeNet's global business strategy and product direction in this post-breach world. He will lead the development of new business strategies that identify new markets and capture the next key market conditions, and will continue to ensure SafeNet’s role as a thought leader and innovator in the information security market. A key part of Gonen’s role will be to communicate the company strategy to customers, partners, and employees. He will report to Chris Fedde, SafeNet’s President and Chief Executive Officer.

"It’s a post-breach world, and customers are demanding more sophisticated and secure solutions that protect their high-value data, wherever it resides," said Chris Fedde, SafeNet President and CEO.  "Increasingly, that means protecting information as it transitions to and through the cloud. In order to meet these demands, it is critical that our business strategies and product capabilities keep ahead of tomorrow’s architectures and threat landscape.  Given Tsion’s knowledge, vision, and security track record, I am confident that he will help SafeNet identify and accelerate into emerging opportunities in the marketplace, as well as ensure that SafeNet remains at the forefront in meeting our customers evolving security needs.”

As part of a move to further support SafeNet’s fast-growing commercial data protection product portfolio, SafeNet announced the following appointments: 

Sangeeta Anand, named as General Manager and Corporate Vice President for Commercial Data Protection.A well-respected technology veteran, Anand joins SafeNet from Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:  CSCO), where she most recently served as Vice President, Product Management and Product Marketing in Cisco Systems’ Cloud Services and Switching Technology Group. At SafeNet, Anand will be responsible for leading the Enterprise/Commercial Data Protection business.  She will report to Phil Saunders, SafeNet’s Executive Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer.

Slawek Ligier, named as Corporate Vice President, Product Development. Ligier joins SafeNet from Symantec (NASDAQ:  SYMC) and VeriSign, where he served as Vice President, Product Development.  In that role, he led the development of Symantec’s Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), and VeriSign’s Identity Protection (VIP) and Fraud Detection Services (FDS) product lines. At SafeNet, Ligier will be responsible for leading the innovation and development of SafeNet’s commercial data protection product portfolio. He will report to Russ Dietz, SafeNet’s Chief Technology Officer.

Chris Fedde continued, “I am pleased to welcome executives of Sangeeta’s and Slawek’s caliber to SafeNet.  Their knowledge, technical expertise, and recognized industry credentials will be instrumental to the future development and growth of our data protection portfolio. In particular, their proven track record of innovation and strong execution will be critical as we bring to market the next generation of SafeNet’s cloud and services offerings.”