Silent Circle, which provides private encrypted communications solutions, today announced that F. William “Bill” Conner has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Directors effective immediately.
Claiming to be a “truly neutral and unbiased” international company, Silent Cirle has created a platform for encrypted text, mobile phone, video teleconferencing and file transfer services through a secure, proprietary network and set of applications.
Conner has also joined the Board of Directors of Blackphone, a joint venture between Silent Circle and Spanish-based manufacturer Geeksphone.
Silent Circle was co-founded by Mike Janke, former Navy SEAL and security expert; PGP creator Phil Zimmermann; and Jon Callas, creator of Apple’s whole disk encryption and co-founder of PGP Corporation.
Before joining Silent Circle, Conner served as the founder and CEO of cybersecurity consultancy FWC Consulting. Prior to FWC Consulting, he served as President and CEO of Entrust, which was acquired by Datacard Group in 2013.
Conner also served as President, Enterprise Networks and e-Business Solutions; Chief Marketing Officer; President of Enterprise Data Networks, and various other leadership positions at Nortel.
Callas formerly served as CTO of Entrust.
“We’re absolutely delighted to have someone of Bill’s pedigree join us,” Janke, who will now assume the position of Chairman of the Board. “Bill is the perfect CEO to lead us during this time of massive revenue, personnel and product growth, as we transition from a start-up to a global corporation with revenues in the hundreds-of-millions of dollars – and with operations and employees all over the world.”
In May 2014, Silent Circle announced that it had raised $30 Million in funding and had decided to move its global headquarters from the Caribbean island of Nevis to Switzerland.
“I am honored and excited to be asked to lead Silent Circle and join the Board of Directors for Silent Circle and Blackphone,” Conner said in a statement. “As the reality of the digital revolution takes place, digital privacy and security have become the number one priority for today’s enterprises, consumers and governments.”
In 2013 Silent Circle shut down its encrypted email service to avoid becoming a target after the US government subpoenaed the records of a similar secure e-mail provider called Lavabit.