Former Chief Digital Trust Officer and CISO of Takeda and GlaxoSmithKline to Further Veza’s Mission to Secure Access to Data Everywhere

Veza, the Identity Security company, today announced the appointment of Mike Towers as Chief Security & Trust Officer. In this role, Towers will spearhead Veza’s cybersecurity and data protection strategy, lead Veza’s Advisory Board, evolve Veza’s product and platform capabilities, and showcase to customers the unique value of Veza’s industry-leading Access Control Platform.

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Mike Towers (Photo: Business Wire)

As a career security executive and recognized expert in digital transformation and trust, Towers’ arrival marks a significant addition to Veza’s senior leadership team. His previous tenure as Chief Digital Trust Officer at Takeda, coupled with his time as Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at Allergan plc and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), has equipped Towers with the hands-on experience to advance trusted digital and data platforms, and ultimately transform how leading organizations secure and manage access in today’s interconnected world.

“With Veza, we are taking on cybersecurity’s toughest challenge - helping organizations understand who can take what action on what data,” said Tarun Thakur, Co-Founder & CEO, Veza. “To be successful in our mission, we look for leaders and people who innately believe in our mission to help secure access to data everywhere. Today, we added one of the world’s most respected cybersecurity leaders to our leadership team. Mike’s vast experience helping organizations navigate digital trust, global information security and risk management will enable us to drive meaningful change for our customers.”

The addition of Towers comes during an important inflection point in cybersecurity. As businesses rely more on technology, they face exponential complexity of securing access to data across multiple cloud platforms, SaaS applications, and data systems. Identity is the new perimeter, and this has led to increasing demand for Veza’s Authorization Graph, which allows customers to visualize and control who can take action on data, no matter where the data resides.

“Through my 25 years working with organizations to drive technology and security initiatives, it has been a recurring challenge to navigate the complexities of least privilege,” said Towers. “Veza’s innovative authorization graph technology reveals the true picture of access, powering a modern approach to access governance for all identities, human and non-human. I am excited to join this visionary team tackling one of cybersecurity's most pressing issues.”

The appointment of Towers comes on the heels of significant momentum for Veza. Earlier this year, the company integrated its Access Control Platform with Google Drive so customers can secure access to enterprise files, surpassing the milestone of 200 integrations with mission-critical enterprise systems. Veza also recently announced an integration with CrowdStrike to combat identity-related breaches, and launched groundbreaking new features for non-human identity management, privileged access monitoring, SaaS access security, next-gen IGA, and data system access. The company has onboarded numerous high-profile customers across all key verticals, such as financial, healthcare, legal and law firms, and big tech, as security leaders everywhere are increasingly recognizing the need for next-gen identity security.

“Veza’s momentum has validated the need for a fresh approach in identity security,” said Karim Faris, General Partner at GV (Google Ventures). “I am happy to have Mike join Veza on their mission because they share a passion for revolutionary approaches to cybersecurity challenges.”

Learn more:

• Veza Access Control Platform: https://www.veza.com/platform
• A Practitioner's Guide to Intelligent Access: https://www.veza.com/company/events/book-launch
• Veza integrations: https://www.veza.com/integrations

About Veza

Veza is the identity security company, helping organizations secure access across the enterprise, including cloud infrastructure, data systems, SaaS apps, and on-prem apps. Powered by the Authorization Graph, Veza’s platform delivers visibility and control of permissions so that organizations finally achieve least privilege. Global enterprises like Wynn Resorts, Expedia, and Blackstone trust Veza for privileged access monitoring, cloud access management, data lake governance, SaaS access security, automated access reviews, and access provisioning. Founded in 2020, Veza is headquartered in Los Gatos, California, and is funded by Accel, Bain Capital, Ballistic Ventures, GV, Norwest Venture Partners, and True Ventures. Visit us at veza.com and follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube.

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