Francisco Partners Closes Forcepoint Buy; Manny Rivelo Named Forcepoint CEO

Global investment firm Francisco Partners has announced the appointment of Manny Rivelo, a more than 30-year executive in security and information technology sectors, as the new CEO of Forcepoint in a string of executive appointments after it completed the acquisition of the cybersecurity platforms developer from Raytheon Technologies (NYSE: RTX).

Rivelo will oversee Forcepoint as an independent entity with a focus on accelerating government and industry adoption of a security approach that embraces the cloud-native secure access service edge architecture available through the company’s Private Access and Cloud Security Gateway platforms, Forcepoint said Monday.

“Every organization today needs to evolve its security posture to holistically integrate cybersecurity across the entirety of its business operations and culture. It can no longer be viewed as ‘just an IT issue’,” said Rivelo. 

He added he looks forward to improving Forcepoint’s position as a cybersecurity partner of choice for government agencies and enterprises.

Rivelo held senior leadership roles at F5 Networks (Nasdaq: FFIV), Arista Networks (NYSE: ANET), AppViewX and Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO).

John DiLullo, former CEO of cybersecurity company Lastline, and Dave Stevens, former CEO and co-founder of Palo Alto Networks (NYSE: PANW), have joined Forcepoint as chief revenue officer and senior vice president of strategy and execution, respectively.

DiLullo will lead Forcepoint’s business development and sales units worldwide to advance the adoption of the company’s platforms. He also held executive leadership positions at Aruba Networks and F5 Networks.

Stevens will be responsible for the expansion of the company’s commercial tech opportunities and advancement of go-to-market strategy as SVP of strategy and execution. He previously served as chief technology officer at Brocade Communications Systems and held senior operating roles at SynOptics Communications, Bay Networks, Rhapsody Networks, Nortel Networks and Atmosphere Networks.

Sean Berg, formerly SVP and general manager of Forcepoint’s global governments business, has been promoted to president of global governments and critical infrastructure. He joined the company in 2017 as VP of sales for global governments.

Francisco Partners agreed to acquire Raytheon’s Forcepoint subsidiary for an undisclosed sum in October. Citibank, Nomura and Credit Suisse served as Francisco Partners’ financial advisers in the transaction, while Paul Hastings acted as the investment firm’s legal counsel.