Secureworks appoints new President and CEO

Global cyber security specialist, Secureworks, has announced that Chief Executive Officer Michael Cote is retiring as CEO and a member of the Secureworks Board of Directors. The Secureworks Board of Directors unanimously appointed Wendy Thomas, current President of Customer Success, as the company's next President and CEO.

"Wendy is a proven and respected leader who has been the driving force of our company's transformation," says Michael Cote. "Her deep knowledge of our business has made her a valued strategic partner for many years and throughout her tenure she has delivered strong operating results and innovative solutions through a relentless commitment to our customers, our purpose, and our people. I am confident she will lead Secureworks well into the future and I am proud to have her succeed me. I know she will make an outstanding CEO."

Cote joined Secureworks in 2002 as Chairman, President and CEO, developing the company's reputation as a leader in the security industry with a global presence in over 60 countries and 4,000+ customers.

"It has been my honoUr to lead this company for the past two decades and I am proud of all we accomplished to create a safer, more secure world for our customers and their customers," says Cote. "I've made lasting friendships and I am fortunate to have worked with the best people in the industry. I look forward to celebrating their continued success."

In 2011, Cote led Secureworks' acquisition by Dell Technologies, establishing a continued relationship with the organisation and with Michael Dell, who has been Chairman of Secureworks Board of Directors since Secureworks' IPO in 2016.

"I've had the privilege of working with Mike for over a decade, witnessing first-hand his leadership and devotion to Secureworks' purpose and customers," says Dell. "On behalf of the Board, we thank Mike for his contributions and congratulate Wendy as Secureworks' next President and CEO. Wendy has worked closely with the Board over the years and we are confident that she is the right person to lead Secureworks into a bright future."

Thomas first joined the Secureworks finance team in 2008, quickly expanding into leadership roles across strategy, operations, product, and customer success.

"I know that I speak for everyone at Secureworks in thanking Mike for his leadership and tireless dedication to the company," says. Thomas. "I appreciate the support of Mike and the Board, and I am proud to work with an exceptional team that is focused on taking decisive actions to transform cybersecurity.

"At the end of the day, our transformation is much more than moving from a services provider to a software-led company. It is about being customer-led and proactively addressing the tremendous market opportunity in security. Our customers look to us for solutions that reduce their risk and effectively protect their organizations against a constantly evolving threat landscape, and we are uniquely positioned to help them and unlock future growth opportunities with our deep bench of security expertise, our singular focus on software-driven security, and our customer-centric solutions that solve security's toughest challenges."

About Wendy Thomas

Thomas leverages more than 25 years of experience in strategic and functional leadership roles. She's worked across multiple industries at companies such as FirstData, Bell South, and Internap Network Services, Inc.

During her career at Secureworks, Thomas has partnered with Cote on several milestones including the acquisitions of Verisign's Managed Security Services (MSS) business and DNS, as well as the acquisition by Dell Technologies and the IPO. In 2017, she recognised Secureworks' unique opportunity to leverage its experience and threat intelligence to help customers transform their security operations with an integrated, cloud-native security analytics platform. As Chief Product Officer, Thomas led the team to develop Secureworks Taegis™ and launched Secureworks' first security analytics product, Secureworks Taegis™ XDR, in April 2019. She has been instrumental leading Secureworks' strategy to empower the global security community and beat the adversary at scale with a software-driven approach grounded in our security expertise.

As President of Customer Success, Thomas led the customer success organisation, which encompasses product and engineering, operations, customer experience, and Secureworks' threat intelligence-focused Counter Threat Unit™. Recently, Thomas was recognised in the number one position in The Software Report's "Top 25 Women Leaders in Cybersecurity of 2021." Outside of Secureworks, she serves as a Liaison for AFS Intercultural Programmes, an international youth exchange organisation.

About Michael Cote

Prior to joining Secureworks, Cote served in executive roles at both Talus Solutions, a pricing and revenue managed software firm, and MSI Solutions, a web application development and systems integration company. In February 2002, Mike joined Secureworks as Chairman, President, and CEO to develop a strategic and sustainable business model that would allow the company to execute its vision of protecting organisations against the growing threat of cybercrime. At that time, Secureworks had less than $1 million in annual revenue. Under his leadership, Cote grew the business to over $550 million with a global presence in over 60 countries.

Throughout his tenure, Cote led Secureworks to adapt and grow as needed in response to a rapidly evolving market. Most notably, he engineered the acquisition into Dell Technologies in 2011 and five years later announced Secureworks' IPO in April 2016. The relationship with Dell gave Secureworks the opportunity to rapidly expand the business through Dell's global scale and customer relationships, and established a continuing relationship between the two companies, collaborating closely to integrate Secureworks Taegis™ offerings with Dell's technology product portfolio.