Ed Hammersla, former chief strategy officer of Forcepoint and president of the cybersecurity venture’s federal division, has joined software developer Utilidata as CEO.
He succeeds former CEO Scott DePasquale, who will begin a national security project in Washington, D.C. as he continues his role as chairman of Utilidatas board of directors, the company said Tuesday.
“Ed brings vast experience in scaling technology and cybersecurity solutions to the Utilidata team, and his deep operating experience bringing commercial products to market at Raytheon will surely help us maximize our recent partnership with them,” said DePasquale.
Hammersla most recently led the federal business operations of Forcepoint, a Vista Equity Partners–Raytheon (NYSE: RTN) joint venture focused on helping government and enterprise customers protect networks against cyber threats.
Before Forcepoint, the 40-year industry veteran served as president of Raytheon’s cyber business and held various positions at IBM (NYSE: IBM), Sterling Software, Informix Federal, NEC and Trusted Computer Solutions.
He also led multiple startup firms as CEO as well as supported various businesses as an investor or an adviser and currently serves on the Critical Infrastructure Resilience Institute’s external advisory board.
Providence, Rhode Island-based Utilidata develops software products designed to help utilities manage efficiency and security of grid assets.
Utilidata formed a partnership with Raytheon in a push to support customers on cyber threat defense, detection and response efforts.