Patel is an alum of Cal Poly and Duke.
AB Wire
Surag Patel has been named as the Chief Strategy Officer of the Palo Alto, California-based Contrast Security, the next generation leader in finding vulnerabilities and blocking attacks on software applications.
Patel, an Indian American, will be responsible for developing and leading the execution of cross-functional strategic initiatives, assisting in developing the company’s go to market strategy, and focusing on developing key partnerships. He will also lead the newly unified Global Product & Marketing organizations, according to a press release.
Patel brings more than a decade of experience to Contrast Security. An experienced, highly analytical product and marketing executive, his focus is in driving adoption of Contrast’s innovative application security products and identifying key growth opportunities, said the release.
Prior to Contrast, Patel served as Vice President of Global Product Management and Corporate Marketing for 41st Parameter, which was acquired by Experian in 2013.
“Surag was instrumental in driving growth of 41st Parameter that ultimately led to its acquisition and continued success,” said, Contrast Security CEO, Alan Naumann, in a statement. “I’m delighted that he’s joined us to establish Contrast as a leader in enabling self-protecting applications.”
Prior to 41st Parameter, Patel led global data strategy and consumer insights for InMobi, the largest global independent mobile ad network.
“I’m thrilled to rejoin Alan to take Contrast Security and the application security market to an entirely new level of capabilities, accuracy, and simplicity,” said Patel, in a statement. “Modern applications and development methodologies, including those that leverage container technologies, cloud architectures and DevOps techniques, require us to reimagine how application security works. I intend to build on Contrast’s introduction of its Runtime Application Self-Protection (RASP) solution and its breakout category-leading 93% accuracy in running the OWASP Benchmark for interactive application security testing (IAST) technology. My team will be laser-focused in growing the market for AppSec products that deliver the highest customer satisfaction.”
Prior to InMobi, Patel spent five years at comScore leading advertising effectiveness research and development of the Ad Effx™ suite of products. He holds a B.S. in Computer Engineering from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, and a Masters in Engineering Management from Duke University.