David DeWalt Joins Mandiant as Chairman of the Board of Directors
Mandiant, a firm focused on security threat detection and response solutions, has announced that former McAfee President and CEO, David DeWalt, has been named as chairman of Mandiant’s board of directors.
DeWalt served as president, chief executive officer and director of McAfee from April 2007 until February 2011, after Intel’s surprise $7.68 billion acquisition of McAfee. DeWalt resigned from his role as President at McAfee in July 2011. At one point, DeWalt was rumored to be a candidate for the top spot at Palo Alto Networks, a position which was ultimately given to former VeriSign CEO, Mark McLaughlin.
From December 2003 to March 2007, DeWalt held executive positions with EMC, including serving as executive vice president and president customer operations and content management software. DeWalt has also held executive positions at technology companies including Oracle, Documentum, Intel, Segue Software, and Quest Software.
Months after his departure from McAfee, it was announced in November 2011 that DeWalt had joined the board of directors at Delta Airlines. DeWalt also serves on the board of directors at Jive Software and Polycom. In May, 2011 he was appointed by President Obama to serve on the National Security Technology Advisory Council.
“David brings more than 25 years of experience in growing successful technology companies,” said Kevin Mandia, chief executive officer at Mandiant. “His strategic and operational insights combined with his detailed understanding of the security industry make him a valuable asset on our board.”
“There is no such thing as perfect security. Targeted attackers bypass the conventional defenses of major corporations every day,” said Mr. DeWalt. “Mandiant’s unique combination of products, services and intelligence protects the country’s most valuable assets every day by equipping organizations to detect, respond and contain attacks that evade their preventive defenses.”
In 2008, DeWalt was named one of the top five CEOs of publicly traded software companies by Institutional Investor magazine. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in computer science and electrical engineering from the University of Delaware.