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Awards
Press Releases
Customer Stories
Thought Leadership
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Company Culture

About Us

Cyemptive was founded in 2014 around the principle that cyber defense should move beyond dependence on detecting and responding after malicious activity begins. The Company’s name combines the concepts of cyber and preemptive, reflecting that founding philosophy and the Company’s distinct model of Preemptive Cyber Defense. Founder Rob Pike approached the problem from a different premise: rather than racing attackers to detect and respond, deny them the stable environment and the time they need to take hold.

Cyemptive exists to make the world cybersafe. Our vision is to redefine cyber defense by making Preemptive Cyber Defense™ the global standard. We pursue that vision by transforming cybersecurity from a reactive discipline into a preemptive one.

  • Forward Thinking
Our leaders’ pair proven track records with a focus on defending against tomorrow’s threats, not just today’s.
  • Unified Vision
We share one goal: a cyber world where attackers are denied the time to cause harm and organizations operate with confidence.
  • Problem Solvers
We take on the security challenges traditional tools leave unsolved, with practical solutions that work in the real world.
  • Client Focused
Every customer relationship starts with one commitment: their security comes first.

Our Leadership

Our leadership team is comprised with executives from several of the world’s most powerful technology and security organizations whom are dedicated to ensure that our customers are taken care of and their security is our top priority. In a dangerous world of constant threats, we know that every day the work we do makes a difference. Our drive to continually innovate and push the boundaries makes your world a safer place.

Rob Pike
CEO & Founder
Jim Dubois
Chief Strategy Officer
Gary Zelanko
Chief Information Security Officer
Jim Fasone
Jim fasone
Chief Risk Officer
Varun Vaid

VP Global Cyber Solutions Strategy

Wessel Graatsma

Senior Vice President Europe

Vince Dova

Vice President Solutions and Sales Operations

boris-davidoff
Boris Davidoff

Senior Vice President Business Development

nina-nichols
Nina Nichols

Vice President Business Development

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Rob Pike

CEO & Founder
As founder and CEO of Cyemptive Technologies, Rob Pike leads with a wealth of experience in creating new technologies and bringing them to market for companies both large and small.
Pike founded Cyemptive in 2014, with the vision of ushering in a new era of cybersecurity. Working in stealth mode, the company focused on developing a revolutionary approach to solving cyber threats, using a pre-emptive strategy to remove hackers and threats in real time. The resulting technology was so impressive that the Department of Homeland Security named it the most innovative border security related solution on the market in its first-ever national competition.
Prior to founding Cyemptive, Pike served as Chief Strategy Officer at Hitachi Data Systems in Japan, where he invented Hitachi’s cloud platform UCP. Before that, he was with Microsoft, where he served in a variety of capacities culminating with Virtualization Architect, where he invented an internal cloud solution. He has founded several startups, in addition to Cyemptive Technologies.
Pike holds numerous patents in servers, storage, networking, monitoring, security and management.

Jim DuBois

Chief Strategy Officer

Cyemptive Technologies’ Chief Strategy Officer Jim DuBois is a tech leader with a modern view of IT innovation and transformation.

He comes to Cyemptive from Microsoft, where he served in a variety of roles during his 25 year tenure with the company, including CIO and Chief Information Security Officer. While at Microsoft, he directed IT modernization through corporate growth, turnaround, acquisition integrations, and divestitures, including driving the digital transformation of the company for CEO Satya Nadella.
In addition to serving as Chief Strategy Officer for Cyemptive, DuBois sits on the board of a number of companies, including Expeditors, Catalina, and Collabra. He is a Venture Advisor for Ignition Partners and Venture Partner – Technology Practice for Ridge-Lane Limited Partners. He is an author and speaker who enjoys shaping enterprise technology global vision, industry leadership positioning, and customer product and service delivery strategies. His speeches include lessons learned at Microsoft including technical strategy, cybersecurity, cloud computing and artificial intelligence.
DuBois holds a bachelor of science degree in computer science and a bachelor of arts degree in business from the University of Washington.

Gary Zelanko

Chief Information Security Officer
As Chief Information Security Officer for Cyemptive Technologies, Gary Zelanko brings more than 35 years of experience in innovative computer designs and architectures, including as Chief Computer Architect for the National Security Agency (NSA).
In his role at Cyemptive Technologies, Zelanko is responsible for identifying, developing, implementing, overseeing and maintaining the company’s information security program. He also works on product development for the company’s proprietary, patented cybersecurity technology that pre-empts cyber attacks in real time, rather than days, weeks or months as compared to other solutions.
While at the NSA, Zelanko managed, developed and built dozens of systems to include Information Assurance Systems, Knowledge Systems and the Enterprise Knowledge System as well as Big Data Analytics and Extreme-Scale Data Analytics Systems. Zelanko has also served as Director, Advance Technology Strategic Development for ViON Corporation where he managed engineering programs and operations for projects in the compilation and dissemination of data. These included Large In-Memory Analytical Systems and Big Data Analytics. He also was involved with the developments in Knowledge System Designs, Ontology’s, and Cyber Intelligence.
Zelanko is a military veteran, having served in the United States Air Force, Electronic Security Division.

Jim fasone

Chief Risk Officer
Jim Fasone is an industry veteran and senior risk management/ insurance executive who has spent most of his career in the risk and insurance sectors.
As Chief Risk Officer of Cyemptive, Fasone is responsible for Cyemptive’s enterprise risk function and strategic risk transfer partnerships. His focus is on creating unique go to market strategies leveraging strategic partnerships and utilizing various alternative risk structures. He works with some of the industry’s best brokers and underwriters to help mitigate the cybersecurity threats.
Fasone brings with him more than 30 years of extensive experience in risk management, insurance brokerage, mergers and acquisitions, as well as creating unique scalable programs in the technology, healthcare and financial services sectors. His expertise includes enterprise risk management, strategic partnerships, go to market strategies, product development, mergers and acquisitions, and operational and process improvement. Fasone is also an innovator in the development of proprietary tools that improve KPIs, increase revenue, and reduce the long term carrying costs of unique and emerging risks.
Fasone is a graduate of the Max M. Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University, and has received designations as an Associate in Risk Management (ARM) and a Registered Property Liability Underwriter (RPLU).

Varun Vaid

VP Global Cyber Solutions Strategy

Varun Vaid is a global business leader with a track record of building high-value strategic partnerships across the Americas, the Middle East, Africa, and Southeast Asia. Over more than 20 years in cybersecurity and cloud/SaaS, he has consistently turned complex, multi-stakeholder relationships into measurable business growth combining sharp commercial instinct with an unwavering commitment to excellence.

At Cyemptive, Vaid leads strategic accounts across the Americas, driving the company’s engagement with Fortune 100-500 enterprises. He is also charged with building Cyemptive’s partner ecosystem – starting in the Americas and EMEA, with global expansion on the horizon.

Vaid’s expertise spans consultative solution selling, channel development, alliance-building, and high-stakes negotiation. At his previous role in AIC Inc, a leading OEM/ODM and commercial off-the-shelf server and storage solutions provider, he served as Business Manager for the Office of the CTO. Earlier in his career, he held key leadership roles at top cybersecurity firms across EMEA and the Americas, where he spearheaded digital transformation initiatives for major enterprise and government clients worldwide.

A builder of ecosystems and a driver of results, Vaid has repeatedly proven his ability to forge partnerships, scale channel sales, and deliver on operational KPIs, turning strategy into sustained business impact. He holds a post-graduate degree in management (PGDM), has completed an Advanced Global Management Program, additionally holds a diploma in software engineering along with multiple sales and presales certifications in cybersecurity.

Wessel Graatsma

Senior Vice President Europe

Wessel Graatsma leads Cyemptive in Europe. He joined in 2023 to build the European market and set up Cyemptive’s European headquarters in The Hague, on the HSD Security Delta Campus. His focus is enterprise, government, defence and critical infrastructure, working with system integrators, specialised partners, MSPs and OEMs, and with the Dutch security ecosystem including HSD Security Delta, InnovationQuarter and PCSI/TNO.

Graatsma has more than 30 years of experience building high-growth technology businesses in Europe. He founded TTP Group, which he sold to NASDAQ-listed Bell Microproducts, where he became General Manager Europe. As founder and CEO of Green Data Systems and managing director of Eco2DC, he built Hitachi’s European data and infrastructure business. He has known Cyemptive founder Rob Pike since 2012, when he brought Rob’s Hitachi UCP platform to the European market. Later roles include SVP and GM EMEA at NSC Global and VP Europe at Solid Optics (Amphenol). He served on IBM’s EMEA Council and is a founding partner of CY Consulting.

Graatsma holds an MBA in International Business from Newport University. He speaks Dutch, English and German.

Vince Dova

Vice President Solutions and Sales Operations

Vince Dova brings extensive experience in cybersecurity and military operations to his current role at Cyemptive. As a former Branch Chief at The Joint Chiefs of Staff, he advised the Chairman on cyber-related issues, focusing on military network defense and the cybersecurity of the Defense Industrial Base and Critical Infrastructure. His work involved collaboration across the Department of Defense, Interagency, National Security Council, and Congress.

At Cyemptive, Dova coordinates global market strategy and product planning for the company’s cutting-edge cybersecurity solutions, while developing organizational and technical governance to ensure the security of intellectual property and client data.

During his distinguished 20-year career as a naval aviator, Dova logged nearly 2,400 hours across various aircraft types while deploying to around the world, from the Arctic Sea to the Arabian Gulf. In addition to his work on the Joint Staff with Cyber Defense, he served as a flight instructor, a mishap investigator, a carrier strike group air defense coordinator, and a National Military Command Center battle-watch captain.

Dova holds a master’s degree in computer network operations, and is an honor graduate of both the Naval War College and School of Aviation Safety.

Boris Davidoff

Senior Vice President Business Development

Boris Davidoff is a senior commercial executive with over 30 years of experience in business development, financial engineering, and analytical modeling. He has a proven track record of structuring and executing complex transactions, building revenue pipelines, and converting strategic opportunities into measurable commercial outcomes.

Mr. Davidoff has led and supported the development of high-value business initiatives across multiple sectors, bringing a disciplined approach to deal structuring, negotiation, and execution. His experience spans financial strategy, operational scaling, and the integration of technical and commercial considerations required to move sophisticated opportunities from concept to closure.

He is recognized for his ability to align cross-functional teams and drive execution in environments where precision, timing, and coordination are critical to success. His background also includes experience in financial modeling, legal structuring, and administrative leadership, supporting both transactional efficiency and organizational performance.

Nina Nichols

Vice President Business Development

Nina Nichols is a seasoned entrepreneur and strategic growth executive with more than three decades of experience founding, building, and advising companies across technology, data, and critical infrastructure sectors. She built and successfully exited an early insurance matching platform designed to align consumer and business profiles with the most suitable providers—an approach that anticipated today’s digital comparison models.

Ms. Nichols is the Founder and CEO of a market research firm she has led for over 30 years, delivering data-driven insights to corporate and institutional clients. Over the past decade, her work has expanded into critical infrastructure, with a focus on energy and water systems—bringing a practical understanding of the operational, security, and resilience challenges facing essential services.

Her experience includes work aligned with infrastructure preparedness and resilience, where the intersection of operational continuity, security, and strategic communications plays an increasingly critical role in both commercial enterprise and national-level considerations.

She serves as an advisor to a number of companies, providing guidance on business development, partnerships, market expansion, and executive-level positioning.