Anitian Appoints Rakesh Narasimhan as CEO to Build on Market Leadership in Automated Cloud Security and Compliance

Former Microsoft and Citrix executive brings deep domain experience and a proven track record to Anitian

PORTLAND, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Anitian, the leading cloud security and compliance automation provider, today announced Rakesh Narasimhan as the company’s new CEO. Andrew Plato, founder of Anitian and founding CEO, takes the role of Chief Technology Officer to oversee technology strategy for Anitian.

Narasimhan brings over 30 years of experience in enterprise software and data infrastructure at multi-billion-dollar market cap companies, including Microsoft, Oracle and Citrix, and multiple venture-based startups. He has a strong track record of building and scaling successful product businesses across multiple domains in cybersecurity, SaaS and cloud computing.

Under his leadership, companies of all sizes—from early-stage ventures to billion-dollar businesses within larger companies—have experienced massive growth. Most recently, Narasimhan served as President and COO of Spaceflight Industries, building three separate multimillion-dollar business units for a disrupter in the space industry.

In his role as CEO of Anitian, Narasimhan will drive continued market adoption and expansion of the Anitian Platform and Anitian Cloud across enterprises.

“Rakesh is one of the cloud security industry’s unique leaders who can direct Anitian through this high-growth stage,” said Sean Cunningham, a managing director at ForgePoint Capital. “His experience in operating and scaling both startup and multi-billion-dollar cloud security companies will be transformational as Anitian empowers the acceleration for enterprises shifting applications to an automated cloud secure and compliant environment.”

Anitian Goes ‘All-In’ for Pre-Engineered Cloud Security and Compliance Innovation and Automation

“There is an architectural transformation under way, as cloud migrations and infrastructure continue to explode, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. As customers grapple with an increase in SaaS and remote work, the need for a cloud-native security and compliance automation solution has become critical. Anitian’s pre-built and automated Cloud Security Platform dramatically accelerates time-to-market—so enterprises can capture new markets and business opportunities securely, and generate more revenue faster,” Narasimhan said. “Anitian is well positioned in this fast-growing market and is quickly becoming the de-facto software-based solution in contrast to the traditional professional services approach. Anitian Software is eating up the Security and Compliance Automation space, and Andrew and the team have created an incredible foundation with a strong company culture. I am honored to be part of this team.”

The Anitian pre-engineered Cloud Security Platform offers the fastest path to security and compliance for existing and new cloud applications, enabling high-growth SaaS enterprises to get to market in weeks instead of months or years while slashing time-to-compliance, cost and risk by 50%-80%.

By automating the security and compliance processes, Anitian frees up people in every part of the organization—security, development, DevOps and business leaders—so they can concentrate on growing the business and delivering customer value rather than working to build a secure and compliant cloud environment.

“As a leader, Rakesh brings a rich tapestry of experiences to Anitian. However, what really impressed me were his values and strong work ethic,” said Andrew Plato, founder and chief technology officer of Anitian. “Rakesh will continue nourishing our culture, which values its people, partners, customers, and community. With Rakesh in the CEO chair, I can focus on Anitian’s technology strategy for our next stage of growth and innovation.”

About Anitian

The Anitian Cloud Security Platform offers the fastest path to security and compliance for existing and new cloud applications, enabling high-growth SaaS enterprises to dramatically accelerate time-to-market and time-to-revenue. Built from the ground up to provide an automated, pre-engineered cloud security and compliance environment, the Anitian Platform and Anitian Cloud wrap more than 15 critical security technologies around a cloud application in minutes, helping your teams to be secure and audit-ready in days instead of months. Our full-stack solution directly integrates with DevOps CI/CD pipelines and includes configurations, documents, licenses, and onboarding to make existing or new cloud applications secure and compliant with FedRAMP, PCI DSS, ISO 27001, CMMC, GDPR and more—all in 80% less time and at 50% of the cost. Learn more about how you can start secure, start compliant, and stay ahead at www.anitian.com.