Blair Semple, CISSP-ISSEP, CCSP, PCIP

Blair Semple, CISSP-ISSEP, CCSP, PCIP, has a diverse work experience in business development and alliances. Currently, they serve as the VP of Alliances at Fornetix since May 2020. Prior to this, Blair held the role of Senior Director of Business Development at PKWARE from July 2017 to April 2020. In this position, they were responsible for establishing partnerships, researching new product features, and exploring market opportunities. Blair's role at Gemalto, as Senior Director of Business Development from October 2011 to July 2017, involved leading SafeNet's go-to-market strategies for storage encryption and key management solutions. They successfully built relationships with integration partners and managed a business that generated over $19 million within 24 months. Before Gemalto, Blair worked as a Senior Systems Engineer and Security Evangelist at NetApp. In the former role, they focused on NetApp's technical relationship with Verizon, presenting and architecting storage solutions. As a Security Evangelist, Blair supported the global sales organization and represented NetApp in public and industry forums. They played a crucial role in customer briefings, resolving competitive situations, and strengthening NetApp's security credibility. Blair's experience also includes being the Director of Business Development at Kasten Chase, where they established and grew its U.S. presence, and working in customer support at Commodore Business Machines Canada.

Blair Semple, CISSP-ISSEP, CCSP, PCIP, holds a Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree in Physics, which was obtained from Wilfrid Laurier University from 1984 to 1987. In addition to their undergraduate education, Blair has obtained several certifications in the field of information security. They received the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certification from (ISC)² in January 2005, followed by the Information Systems Security Engineering Professional (CISSP-ISSEP) certification in March 2005. In December 2015, Blair acquired the Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP) certification from (ISC)². Most recently, in October 2019, they obtained the Payment Card Industry Professional (PCIP) certification from the PCI Security Standards Council.