I'm honored to join Coalition as the organization's first Chief Financial Officer to help prepare the company for the next stage of growth. I consider this the most exciting assignment of my 20+ years in finance, which includes serving in leadership roles at both innovative growth-stage startups to global S&P 500 companies.

As I evaluated this opportunity, I found Coalition’s mission to solve cyber risk very compelling, and I was convinced of the company’s potential to transform an important and enormous industry. Here’s a bit more about my career adventure. 

My journey from global public companies back to high-growth startups

I have always found innovative emerging growth companies to be among the most fascinating professional opportunities. In fact, even as I helped to lead large public companies, I always hoped I would return to be a part of a successful private high-growth company.

Solving scale problems while building a company with a long-term perspective can be incredibly satisfying. I have a ton of respect for teams that build powerful, durable companies. My goal has been to help a talented management team take a company to the next level and beyond.

The experiences I had early in my career at venture-backed B2B SaaS companies taught me the importance of delivering scalable and high-value products while ensuring the unit economics and business operations were sustainable. These were hard challenges!

On the other end of the spectrum, I was a part of two large companies each with its own set of success factors. At Visa, I was initially dedicated to its IPO process and saw firsthand the importance of global planning and coordination to maintain high rates of growth. At Broadridge, where I was the CFO, the management team diligently and creatively invested in the business to create durable growth leading to inclusion in the S&P 500. The common denominator across both companies was smart planning and balancing near-term growth with a focus on long-term differentiation.

I hope to apply all of these lessons to an already successful Coalition, an organization that has achieved tremendous growth in its first five years. The incredible performance from inception to date, and my goal to join such a dynamic company, made this decision an easy one.

Understanding the challenges of cybersecurity

"What keeps you up at night?" was one of the most typical questions investors posed when I was a public company CFO. I typically answered cybersecurity because it is so existential to a mission-critical fintech technology services provider and our brand. So, this is a topic I have thought a lot about or, at least, worried a lot about.

Because of this, I signed up to serve as co-chair of our company's cybersecurity committee which entailed reviewing and monitoring our risk management framework. This whole exercise informed our cyber risk tolerance and spending levels.

Even after sweating this work, I had to withstand the inevitable question from the board to the technology team: "Are you getting all the money you need for cybersecurity?" In short, these are some of the toughest issues facing companies today. 

We had to face the same challenges as many of Coalition’s policyholders to develop our own risk management framework, taking a hard look at our risk exposure and tolerance. I wholeheartedly embrace CEO Joshua Motta’s insight that cybersecurity is a risk management problem.

"Coalition's vision to provide security for all as the world digitizes is more important now than ever."

This company takes such a novel approach to help manage digital risks. Coalition has democratized access to the tools that could aid any organization, such as the Cyber Risk Assessment and actively monitoring our policyholders' vulnerabilities.

This technology-driven approach is powering a new, more successful model of risk management, plus it’s been proven successful by enabling the company to scale with the support of great partners. It’s clear why leading global insurers including Swiss Re Corporate Solutions, Arch Insurance, Lloyd's of London, Zurich North America, and, most recently, Allianz have backed Coalition to help businesses manage and mitigate cyber risk.

A chance to change the world

Coalition's vision to provide security for all as the world digitizes is more important now than ever. Joining this leadership team means taking on a critical role in scaling our business and financial operations, as well as navigating the ever-shifting digital risks. I'm excited to take on these responsibilities.

I’m thrilled to be joining the company at this juncture and to be part of Coalition’s effort to protect organizations globally with Active Insurance and technology solutions. The best part is that we’re still just getting started.

Come join our mission at Coalition. We welcome you to check out our careers page for a future opportunity.