Box Adds Three Tech Executives

Box, Inc. announced the hiring of three enterprise technology leaders.

Justin Somaini, formerly chief Information security officer for Yahoo! and Symantec, joined Box as the company’s first chief trust officer.

Niall Wall, also a veteran of Symantec, where he held several senior leadership roles, joined as SVP of business development.

And Jeff Mannie joined Box as VP and controller from PayPal, where he held leadership roles in finance.

"The power of the cloud resides in giving people access to their information whenever and wherever they need it, unlocking potential innovation in every industry," said Aaron Levie, co-founder and CEO, Box. "To succeed, everyone – users, managers, and especially IT – have to deeply trust the cloud and be open to transforming the way they work. Justin, Niall and Jeff are a perfect fit with Box: they bring deep functional experience and the enterprise savvy to drive change."

Somaini, Wall and Mannie are joining Box at a time of growth and expansion for the company. Sales in 2012 grew more than 150%, and Box recently received the highest possible rating by Gartner, Inc. in its report MarketScope for Enterprise File Synchronization and Sharingi." The company’s growth and traction in the enterprise market, its ability to meet the needs of end users and satisfy enterprise requirements, and its extensive ecosystem of partners contributed to a positive rating.

 Justin Somaini, VP and chief trust officer
He will be responsible for working globally and collaboratively across Box’s growing customer base, technical operations, business development teams, and partners to ensure the company is consistently delivering on its information security commitments, investing to meet the rapidly evolving security environment, and building transparent, deeply trusted relationships with its customers.

"Trust is about delivering on commitments consistently over time," said Somaini. "Box’s leadership in security and its commitment to customer success have clearly driven traction in the marketplace. I’m excited to have the opportunity to not only work with an amazing team at Box, but to advocate for a vision that raises the bar for information security and customer trust in the cloud industry-wide."

Most recently, Somaini created and held the role of chief information security officer (CISO) at Yahoo!, driving security planning and operations for the company, which serves more than 700 million consumers worldwide. Prior that, he was CISO of Symantec. He developed the company’s information security enterprise risk management process, worked cross-functionally to manage critical incidents to resolution and drove implementation of controls for both a significant threat environment and regulatory needs. In addition to his roles at Yahoo! and Symantec, Justin was director of information security at Verisign and an advisor to Palo Alto Networks.

He received a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Management Information Systems from Drexel University.

 Niall Wall, SVP, business development
He brings a background in enterprise software and cloud services to Box, as well as a track record of establishing and growing global businesses. Most recently, he held several senior leadership roles at Symantec, including VP and GM of the Norton Data Services, VP of the data protection group, and VP of business development and alliances. In his tenure at Symantec, he built a leading consumer cloud services businesses and established and led the business development organization, contributing to the company’s overall growth from less than $1B to more than $6B in annual revenue today.

At Box, he will lead Box’s global business development organization, overseeing the company’s overall partnership strategy, relationships, and strategic alliances.

Prior to his roles at Symantec, Niall held product management and product marketing leadership roles at Oracle and Digital Equipment Corporation.

He holds Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees from the National University of Ireland, Galway.

Karen Appleton, former VP of business development at Box, has been promoted to a new role as SVP of global alliances. In her new role, she will oversee the company’s relationships with key global customers and manage Box’s international expansion, government relations, and corporate social responsibility programs. The Silicon Valley Business Journal recently named her as one of the most influential women in Silicon Valley.

Jeff Mannie, VP and controller
He will oversee external reporting, financial policies and controls, global accounting and financial systems. He brings more than 25 years of Controller and leadership experience to Box, including high-growth and complex accounting companies. Prior to joining Box, he was senior director, global controller at PayPal (an eBay company). While at PayPal,a annual revenues grew from approximately $1.5B to over $5.0B. Before PayPal, he held accounting and finance leadership roles at Integrated Device Technology, Inc., a mixed-signal semiconductor company, and Comerica Bank.

He is a CPA, an alumnus of Ernst & Young and graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara.