Michael R. Cote to Retire as Secureworks CEO; Board Appoints Wendy K. Thomas as Next President & CEO
Secureworks (NASDAQ: SCWX) announced that CEO Michael R. Cote will retire on September 3, 2021, after nearly two decades. Wendy K. Thomas, currently the President of Customer Success, has been appointed to succeed him. Cote, who joined in 2002, led the company’s growth from under $1 million in revenue to over $550 million and its acquisition by Dell Technologies. Thomas has been a key player in the company's strategic initiatives, including the launch of the Taegis™ cloud-native security analytics platform.
- Wendy K. Thomas's appointment may bring a fresh perspective and continuity in leadership, aligning with strategic goals.
- Cote's departure might raise concerns regarding continuity and experience gaps in executive leadership.
ATLANTA, June 03, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Secureworks® (NASDAQ:SCWX), a global leader in cybersecurity, today announced that Chief Executive Officer Michael R. Cote is retiring as CEO and a member of the Secureworks Board of Directors, effective Sept. 3, 2021. The Secureworks Board of Directors unanimously appointed Wendy K. Thomas, Secureworks’ current President of Customer Success, as the company’s next President and Chief Executive Officer, effective Sept. 3, 2021.
“Wendy is a proven and respected leader who has been the driving force of our company’s transformation,” said Mr. 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.”
Mr. Cote has had a remarkable career at Secureworks. He joined the company in 2002 as Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, 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 honor 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,” Mr. Cote continued. “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, Mr. Cote led Secureworks’ acquisition by Dell Technologies, establishing a continued relationship with the organization 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,” said Mr. 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.”
Ms. 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,” said Ms. 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 K. Thomas
Ms. 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, Ms. Thomas has partnered with Mr. 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 recognized 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, Ms. 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, Ms. Thomas led the customer success organization, which encompasses product and engineering, operations, customer experience, and Secureworks’ threat intelligence-focused Counter Threat Unit™. Recently, Ms. Thomas was recognized 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 Programs, an international youth exchange organization.
About Michael R. Cote
Prior to joining Secureworks, Mr. 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 Feb. 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 organizations against the growing threat of cybercrime. At that time, Secureworks had less than
Throughout his tenure, Mr. 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.
Outside of Secureworks, Mr. Cote sits on the board of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, the board of regents at Boston College, the board of trustees at Marist School, and the board of directors at Extrahop.
Q1 FY22 Earnings Conference Call
Secureworks plans to release its first quarter fiscal 2022 financial results today at 8:00 a.m. EDT. Investors, journalists, and the general public may access a live audio webcast of the conference call on the Secureworks website at http://investors.secureworks.com. The webcast will be archived at the same location for one year.
About Secureworks
Secureworks (NASDAQ: SCWX) is a global cybersecurity leader that protects customer progress with Secureworks® Taegis™, a cloud-native security analytics platform built on 20+ years of real-world threat intelligence and research, improving customers’ ability to detect advanced threats, streamline and collaborate on investigations, and automate the right actions.
Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and are based on Secureworks' current expectations. In some cases, you can identify these statements by such forward-looking words as "anticipate," "believe," "confidence," "could," "estimate," "expect," "guidance," "intend," "may," "plan," "potential," "outlook," "should," "will" and "would," or similar words or expressions that refer to future events or outcomes. Because forward-looking statements inherently involve risks and uncertainties, actual future results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, competitive uncertainties and general economic and business conditions in Secureworks' markets as well as the other risks and uncertainties that are described in Secureworks' periodic reports and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which are available for review through the Securities and Exchange Commission's website at www.sec.gov. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date as of which such statement is made, and, except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement after the date as of which such statement was made, whether to reflect changes in circumstances or our expectations, the occurrence of unanticipated events, or otherwise.
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Contact:
Derek Delano
press@secureworks.com
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