BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Polaris Partners today announced that veteran cyber security executive and entrepreneur Brendan Hannigan has joined the firm as a Venture Partner, based out of their Boston office. In his role at Polaris, Hannigan will concentrate his efforts on both funding and founding transformative security, cloud and SaaS companies.
Hannigan comes to Polaris after a highly-successful tenure as General Manager of IBM Security, where he grew the division to be the largest enterprise security provider in the world, with almost $2B in revenues. Before IBM, Brendan served as President and CEO of Q1 Labs, a Polaris-backed security intelligence and analytics company which was acquired by IBM in 2011. Under his leadership, QRadar, the company’s flagship platform, grew to be the #1 worldwide market share leader. Previously, Brendan was Vice President of Marketing and Technology at Sockeye Networks, a Polaris-backed company sold to Internap in 2003, and before that, was head of Network Industry Research at Forrester Research.
“For more than 15 years, we’ve known Brendan as a great business partner and a champion of innovation, both at small startups and global corporations,” said Polaris Managing Partner Dave Barrett. “We’re super-excited about the insight and perspective he’ll add to our technology team, and about the contributions he’ll make to our partnership. His addition continues a successful Polaris model in which we've recruited experienced operators and entrepreneurs with whom we have enjoyed long-term relationships to identify, invest in and grow compelling companies.”
As a Venture Partner, Hannigan will spend his time investing in technology startups, and will also seek opportunities, where appropriate, to add value as co-founder, executive chair, or CEO of those companies.
“Polaris has been an exceptional partner to me over many years,” Hannigan said. “I am very excited to continue this partnership as we work together with the brightest entrepreneurs to solve some of the most challenging issues in security, cloud and SaaS infrastructure facing enterprises today.”
About Brendan Hannigan
Brendan Hannigan joined Polaris
Partners in 2016 as a Venture Partner. In this role, he focuses on
funding and founding companies in the technology sector with a
concentration in cloud infrastructure and cybersecurity. A 25 year
technology industry veteran, Brendan was most recently the General
Manager of IBM Security. Under Brendan's leadership, IBM Security grew
significantly faster than the overall security market to become the
number one enterprise security provider in the world with almost $2B in
revenues. Previously, Brendan was President and CEO of Q1 Labs, a
pioneer and leader in the security intelligence and analytics market.
Over eight years from 2003 to 2011 Brendan served in a variety of
executive positions, including Executive Vice President of Marketing and
Engineering, COO, President and eventually CEO. Before joining Q1 Labs,
Brendan was Vice President of Marketing and Technology at Sockeye
Networks, a route optimization firm that was sold to Internap in 2003.
Previously, as director of network research at Forrester Research from
1996 to 2000, he oversaw the firm’s most successful practices, covering
enterprise networks, security technology and public network services.
Before Forrester, Brendan served in a variety of senior engineering
roles at Digital Equipment Corp., Wellfleet Communications and Motorola.
He currently serves on the board of Bitsight Technologies, a security
ratings and third party risk technology company. Brendan graduated with
honors in computer science from University College Dublin in Ireland.
About Polaris Partners
Polaris Partners invests in
exceptional technology and healthcare companies across all stages of
their life cycles. With offices in Boston, San Francisco, and Dublin, we
partner globally with an unparalleled network of entrepreneurs, top
scientists and emerging innovators who are making significant
contributions in their fields and improving the way in which we live and
work. For more information, visit www.polarispartners.com.
