Dave Hansen President and CEO, SafeNet

SafeNet, Inc., in data protection, announced the appointment of Dave Hansen, an information security and cloud veteran, as the company’s new president and CEO.

He will also join the company’s board of directors.

He succeeds current president and CEO Chris Fedde, who has been with SafeNet since 2001.

Dave Fishman, a Partner at Vector Capital and a member of SafeNet’s board of directors, said: "We want to thank Chris for the strong leadership that he has demonstrated throughout his tenure at SafeNet. During that time, the company has transformed from a diversified vendor of security tools into one of the industry’s leading, pure-play data protection and rights management companies. Under his leadership, SafeNet significantly enhanced its market leading product portfolios and positioned itself to capitalize on the fast growing data protection for cloud and virtual markets."    

"I have enjoyed the opportunity to work at and lead SafeNet over the past eleven years. I am proud of all that we have accomplished, particularly the company’s transformation into an industry-recognized data protection market leader," said Fedde. "SafeNet is a company with tremendous opportunities and I look forward to its continued success."     

 Dave Hansen has a track record of creating and executing innovative IT strategies and solutions for the enterprise. He arrives at SafeNet from BMC Software, where he most recently served as VP and GM. He joined BMC Software through its acquisition of Numara Software, in service, asset, and mobile device management for IT professionals, where he served as the company’s president and CEO, and was responsible for creating and driving the company’s cloud strategy.

"Dave is a known innovator within the security industry that brings strong strategic and execution skills, a proven ability to lead high performing management teams and a successful track record of driving growth for multi-national corporations," continued Fishman. "We look forward to working with Dave and believe that his leadership and strong operational expertise will build upon SafeNet’s culture of innovation and help drive SafeNet’s evolution and growth forward."    

Prior to Numara Software, Hansen spent more than nine years at CA Technologies, where he led the development and execution of CA’s Enterprise Solutions and Cloud Strategy, overseeing the creation of the company’s portfolio of cloud products and enterprise solutions, which  helped enterprises seamlessly migrate and manage their IT across cloud, on-premise, and hybrid environments. He also led its Security Business Unit, where he delivered new versions of enterprise identity and access management solutions. Prior to that, he served as the company’s CIO, where he was responsible for implementing the company’s IT strategy, applications development, and IT compliance.     

Dave has a Bachelor of Science degree from Lakehead University in Ontario, Canada.

"SafeNet has undergone a tremendous transformation over the past five years, and is uniquely positioned to solve the most complex security issues facing CIOs and CSOs today," said Hansen. "With SafeNet’s market-leading data protection and rights management portfolios, and the recent introduction of game-changing cloud and virtualization products, the company is set to lead the way in securing access and data for the cloud and from the cloud. I’m very excited to join SafeNet and I look forward to working with SafeNet’s talented team to further build upon the company’s momentum, and continue to deliver strong value to customers and drive growth across the company."