Transparency is necessary for trust. In an era of increasing (and welcome) scrutiny regarding the financial relationships between security leaders and vendors, I’ve put together this page to provide public disclosure regarding any current and historic relationships with vendors that go beyond just being a customer or having friends who work at a vendor.
While I’ve always maintained full disclosure regarding vendor relationships within the organizations I work for and within professional communities I am part of, I hope that sharing this information publicly will be helpful and informative to the broader industry and fellow security leaders.
Vendor Relationships
Disclosure Philosophy
The first two sections below provide full transparency regarding vendors from whom I’ve received some sort of compensation beyond things like standard vendor swag items (stickers, apparel, coffee mugs, etc.) or participating in things like a vendor-hosted marketing dinner at an industry conference.
The final section provides disclosure of any personal investments I’ve made in a vendor.
Definitions of categories:
- Cash: Vendor provided direct cash benefits.
- Equity: Vendor granted equity benefits.
- Perks: Vendor provided some other benefits with a total value beyond standard swag or marketing activities.
Current
| Name | Cash | Equity | Perks | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| None | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Historic
| Name | Cash | Equity | Perks | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Expel | No | No | Yes | While a customer, I was invited to participate in an executive advisory program. As part of this program, Expel covered limited travel expenses (hotel,food) for in-person working sessions. I attended a total of three sessions. This relationship was also publicly disclosed on my LinkedIn profile. |
Personal Investments
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Tracebit | Early investor after working with the founders previously. |
| Atlas Security | Early investor after working with the founders previously. |
I do not participate in any group or syndicate based investment portfolios.