Guardare Makes Risk Management Simple

Dane Fiori, Founder of Guardare, is a dynamic technology executive and innovative sales leader with a remarkable track record of driving year-over-year growth and scaling hyper-growth SaaS companies. Dane’s vision is to simplify cybersecurity for organizations and make robust security accessible and equitable, no matter the resources available.

Before founding Guardare, Dane served as the Executive Vice President of Enterprise Sales at KnowBe4, where he played a pivotal role in the company’s transformation into a unicorn, leading up to its successful IPO in April 2021 and subsequent acquisition by Vista Equity Partners in February 2023. Under Dane's leadership, KnowBe4 experienced transformative growth, significantly expanding its market presence and growing revenue both organically and through acquisitions. His strategic vision, coupled with deep product insights, proved instrumental in navigating complex sales cycles and building high-performing teams that consistently delivered results beyond board expectations.

Prior to his nine years at KnowBe4, Dane held various sales, marketing, and consulting roles at Print Manager and Axiom International, further honing his skills and contributing to their success.

Lars Letonoff, Co-Founder of Guardare, is an internationally recognized strategic visionary and highly regarded technology executive with decades of leadership and go-to-market strategy experience. Lars has a proven track record of successfully building and scaling hyper-growth, global organizations. His entrepreneurial background and ability to commercialize nascent technologies have enabled him to drive innovation to market throughout his career.

Before joining Guardare, Lars was President and Chief Revenue Officer at KnowBe4, where he executed his strategic vision, built a world-class leadership team, and led the growth from a small cybersecurity startup with less than 100 customers to a market-leading, publicly traded powerhouse with more than 55,000 customers, partners, MSPs, and MSSPs. The overwhelming success of KnowBe4 culminated in the acquisition by Vista Equity Partners in February 2023.

Prior to his 12-year tenure at KnowBe4, Lars held a variety of senior executive positions at Sunbelt Software, Prudent Bay Capital Management, Thunder Capital Management, Avalon Research Group, and Bulldog Capital Management. Lars also serves on the boards of DataDome and Limble CMMS, continuing to contribute his expertise to the broader technology and cybersecurity landscape.

Hope Corbit serves as Corporate Counsel for Guardare, where she provides legal guidance across all operational facets, including data privacy compliance, corporate governance, and risk management for emerging technologies. Hope also oversees contract negotiations, ensuring the company operates within global legal frameworks while supporting innovation in AI Cybersecurity.

‍
Prior to joining Guardare, Hope was Associate General Counsel at St. Petersburg College, where she managed a broad portfolio of legal responsibilities. These included employment law, policy development, compliance with state and federal regulations, and contract review for academic and operational initiatives. Hope also played a key role in advising senior leadership on various issues.

‍
Hope brings a unique perspective to navigating the complex intersection of AI, cybersecurity, and regulatory landscapes and is committed to fostering ethical innovation and safeguarding organizational integrity in a rapidly evolving digital environment.

Charles Mitchell, Co-Founder of Guardare, has over 15 years of experience in technology and professional services, specializing in product management, scalable growth planning, and the development of performance feedback infrastructures. Prior to Guardare, Charles co-founded CliniConnects, serving as CTO and overseeing the security, stability, and technical implementation of all products and systems.

Charles’s extensive expertise spans project management, enterprise policies for support and deployment, and leading technology teams in diverse industries, including consulting, software integration, and robotics, with a focus on the medical sector. He has also managed teams of engineers working on modern film and broadcasting technologies, IoT innovation, machine learning, adversarial networks, and data mining.

Additionally, Charles has served on the boards of multiple major companies, including publicly traded organizations, where he has provided strategic guidance across various sectors. His broad expertise and visionary leadership continue to drive product innovation at Guardare.

Mark Southam is the Vice President and Head of Go-To-Market at Guardare, where he leads all sales and marketing efforts to help organizations gain unified visibility and control across their cybersecurity landscape. With more than 18 years of experience building, scaling, and supporting startups in the technology and media industries, Mark has a proven record of driving growth and cultivating best-in-class executive communities within cybersecurity.

Before joining Guardare, Mark held senior leadership roles at CyberRisk Alliance, where he helped shape one of the industry’s most recognized cybersecurity event portfolios—including Infosec World, Identiverse, The Official Cybersecurity Summit, and the CISO Collaborative, the largest CISO membership community in the U.S.** Prior to that, he served as Chief Revenue Officer at CDM Media, where he spearheaded transformative growth, expanded the company’s global market presence, and secured multiple appearances on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing private companies in America.

Mark’s deep understanding of CISO challenges, paired with his expertise in community-driven engagement, has made him a trusted leader in navigating complex sales cycles and building high-performing teams that consistently deliver results.

Krish Venkataraman, Board Member and Advisor to Guardare, is an accomplished executive with more than 20 years of leadership experience across finance, operations, and strategic execution. Internationally recognized for his versatility and dynamic approach, Krish has excelled as a Board member, President, CFO, and COO, establishing himself as an expert in financial services, cybersecurity, payments, exchange technology, and big data. His expertise in driving IPOs, preparing companies for public offerings, and executing corporate transformations has set industry benchmarks.

Over the last six years, Krish has orchestrated three significant company sales, underscoring his strategic acumen and ability to deliver results. Currently serving as the President of Dataiku, Krish leads the charge in pioneering “everyday AI” for organizations across industries. In his prior role as President and CFO of KnowBe4, he successfully raised multiple rounds of funding from flagship investors such as KKR, Vista, Tiger Management, Goldman Sachs, and Elephant, and was pivotal in leading the number one technology IPO of 2021 and achieving a top 1% shareholder return among technology companies in 2022.

Before his tenure at KnowBe4, Krish held executive leadership roles at Dealogic, Syncsort Inc., NYSE Euronext, Lehman Brothers, AMEX, and Deloitte. His expertise spans not only traditional finance activities but also encompasses sales, operations, human resources, IT, and legal functions. Krish exemplifies a new breed of executive, combining financial stewardship with operational expertise and strategic foresight to consistently drive organizations to exceed expectations.