John De Santis

John De Santis has operated at the bleeding edge of innovation and business transformation for over 30 years – with international and US based experience at venture-backed technology start-ups as well as large global public companies.

Most recently, John was VP, Cloud Services for VMware. He joined VMware after being Chairman and CEO of TriCipher, a software security infrastructure company acquired by VMware in 2010. He led TriCipher’s transformation from a specialized niche provider of secure authentication solutions to the leading innovator in cloud based identity services for web application and SaaS access management.

Prior to TriCipher, John served as CEO of enterprise security software company, Sygate Technologies, from 2000 until its acquisition by Symantec in 2005. Sygate’s innovations continue to provide the foundational technology for Symantec’s Endpoint Protection business. Prior to joining Sygate, he was SVP for Network Computing Devices (a leading thin client manufacturer), where he was responsible for all worldwide sales, marketing, and service operations. Prior to NCD, he was with Cincinnati Bell Information Systems (now Convergys Corporation) where he was Vice President, European Operations, responsible for delivering operational support systems and business process re-engineering to newly deregulated European telecommunication service providers. When he was 28 years old, he co-founded an optical fiber networking start up which built the first commercial application of optical channel networking for IBM mainframes.

John earned an AB in Philosophy from Fairfield University and completed the Stanford University Executive Institute Program for Management of High-Tech Companies. John is currently on the boards of Trace Security (IT Security/GRC management as a service) and NoHold (cloud based knowledge management/artificial intelligence solutions). He is an advisor to a number of early stage startups. Previously, he was on the boards of Neohapsis (security risk services – acquired by Cisco), Arxan (software application protection – PE exit to TA Associates), Tablus (data leakage protection software – acquired by EMC/RSA), Applied Identity (identity based access control software – acquired by Citrix), and was an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Trident Capital.