Derek Samford

Derek Samford currently serves as Vice President of Product and Infrastructure Security at Marqeta, focusing on product security, security architecture, and security engineering functions since July 2024. Prior to this role, Derek held significant positions at Avalara, serving as Senior Director of Product Security and Director of Product Security, where responsibilities included leading the Security Engineering department, launching the Security Champions program, and overseeing various security initiatives. Derek's previous experience also includes managerial and senior engineering roles at MobileIron and Citrix, where contributions involved managing DevSecOps teams, security engineering guidance, and ensuring high security standards in product releases. Derek founded Syncreticorp, providing cloud infrastructure consulting, and holds a background in Computer Science from Florida Atlantic University.