Laurent Balmelli, PhD

Laurent Balmelli, PhD, has a diverse range of work experience in the technology industry. Their most recent role was as the Co-founder, CEO, and Head of Product at Strong Network Inc., where they focused on developing code with a strong emphasis on infrastructure and code security principles. Prior to that, they served as the Director of Snap Switzerland, Cyber-Security Technologies at Snapchat, Inc., where they managed a team in mobile app security and developed critical security products. Before joining Snapchat, Balmelli was the CEO and Co-founder of Strong Codes-Inc, a company that was acquired by Snapchat. Laurent also has experience in senior management roles at International Business Machines (IBM), specifically in the CTO Office for Systems and in the IBM Research Division, where they focused on systems engineering and complex product design. Balmelli began their career at Bell Labs Lucent Technologies and has also worked at Silicon Graphics, Sword Group, and Cray Research in various software and development roles.

Laurent Balmelli, PhD, obtained their Baccalaureat Scientifique degree in Mathematics from Gymnase Cantonal de Neuchatel (currently known as Lycée Denis-de-Rougemont) in 1991. Laurent then pursued their higher education at EPFL (École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne), where they obtained their Master of Science degree in Computer Science in 1996.

Continuing their education at EPFL, Balmelli completed their Ph.D. in Communication Systems with a focus on Mathematics for Signal Processing in 2000.

In addition to their formal education, Balmelli has obtained certifications in Computer Security from the University of Maryland College Park in February 2017 and in Machine Learning from Stanford University in January 2017.