FireHost, a Dallas-based cloud hosting provider that has made security the focus of its offerings, announced this week that Jim Lewandowski has been named as the new chief executive officer (CEO) of the company.
Founder and former CEO Chris Drake will take the role as chief technology officer (CTO) and work with Lewandowski to accelerate FireHost’s growth and product innovation.
Lewandowski, who already serves on FireHost’s board of directors, has more than 25 years of executive leadership with companies including Rackspace, McAfee, Yahoo!, BMC Software, and IBM. He was most recently a senior vice president and general manager at Rackspace before establishing a technology consulting business.
Drake, who founded FireHost in 2009 and launched its secure cloud offering in 2011, has served as CEO since its inception.
In his role as CTO, Drake will concentrate more time on FireHost’s innovation, a move the company believes will fuel the company’s growth and accelerate its technology innovation to better serve customers.
“I made the decision to become CTO because technology innovation has always been my passion,” said Drake. “The need for security in the cloud is the most critical priority in the industry. This leadership change allows FireHost to double down on innovation to help customers capitalize on it faster. Jim’s industry expertise, business sense and socket fit with our culture make it possible for me to reinforce the company’s innovation engines while he continues our rapid growth to even higher levels. This leadership change comes at the right stage of FireHost’s history, and we believe that the company is positioned extremely well.”
In June 2013, FireHost raised $12 million in a Series D funding round, roughly nine months after the company announced that it had raised $10 million. FireHost has raised a total of $34 million in three years.
