Imperva, a Thales company, names David Holmes, a celebrated Forrester Research analyst, as CTO of Imperva Application Security. Holmes reports to Nanhi Singh, Chief Customer Officer and GM of the Application Security business unit.
With over 25 years’ experience in security and product engineering, Holmes joins Imperva with a distinguished career as an industry analyst and cybersecurity thought leader. As Principal Research Analyst at Forrester Research, he partnered with clients around the globe, providing strategic insights that redefined their approach to cybersecurity. He is the author of numerous papers on network security, application security, SASE, DDoS, cryptography, and Zero Trust, equipping security leaders with the foresight needed to navigate emerging threats and stay ahead of the threat landscape.
“David’s deep expertise in cybersecurity and his visionary approach to tackling today’s most pressing security challenges is invaluable as we continue to innovate and strengthen our offerings,” says Singh. “His track record of driving industry thought leadership and his hands-on experience with cutting-edge technologies make him the perfect leader to help our customers stay ahead of evolving threats.”
Prior to Forrester Research, Holmes developed and sold application security and bot management solutions at Shape Security and F5 Networks. He held a number of roles during his tenure with F5 Networks, including: Threat Research Evangelist, Worldwide Security Evangelist, Technical Marketing Manager, and Principal Software Engineer. He was instrumental in advancing SSL technology and cryptographic acceleration, and contributed to security components such as OpenSSH, FIPS 140, and various authentication plugins.
“As an analyst, I was very familiar with Imperva and its industry-leading solutions. The company has built a reputation for delivering products that are recognized for operational efficiency, security efficacy, and innovation, and established itself as the leader in application security,” says Holmes. “I look forward to expanding on this heritage to help our customers protect their applications and APIs amidst the growing complexity of modern application architectures.”
He studied Computer Science and Engineering Physics at the University of Colorado, Boulder.