SAN ANTONIO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cybersecurity company AwareGO today announced that former NASA Ames Center Research Scientist and Stanford Alumni Dr. Ari K. Jónsson has been appointed as the company’s new CEO. Jónsson will be charged with leading the company through its next phase of rapid growth and expansion, which includes a future Series A funding round to support the company’s product development and scale its global sales/marketing efforts.
“I am truly excited to be a part of the future of AwareGO. The company truly is in a category of its own when it comes to offering best-in-class cybersecurity training and awareness with measurable and proven results,” said Dr. Jónsson. “Over the next several months, given the state of today’s cybersecurity market, we expect rapid growth, both in employees and customers. Being in a position to support and maintain that growth with the awesome team that’s already in place is exciting.”
AwareGO has experienced exponential growth over the last two years that includes a geographical expansion into the U.S., Czech Republic, and Croatia. Former CEO and company co-founder Ragnar Sigurdsson will remain with the company as Head of Research and Development. Additionally, the company has made significant investments in product development and will soon introduce a transformational solution based on human behavioral science methodologies, designed specifically to identify and measure human risk and improve cybersecurity awareness and the cultural behavior of employees through focused training. Eyrir Venture Management is the company’s largest financial backer, supporting the company diligently for nearly three years.
“AwareGO delivers a proven and effective solution that provides enterprises and institutions with a way to evaluate cybersecurity weaknesses and offers ways to remedy them through training. With the addition of an experienced leader such as Dr. Jónsson, we can build on that growth positioning the company as an international player by leveraging his knowledge and strong ties to the market,” said Thordur Magnusson, board director of AwareGO and Chairman of Eyrir Venture Management. “His experience, knowledge, and network in the sector will strengthen AwareGO and its existing brilliant team on their path to becoming a leader in the cybersecurity industry.”
Dr. Jónsson has a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Stanford University and is the former Dean of the School of Computer Science at Reykjavik University before becoming president of the school in 2010. Before joining Reykjavik University, Dr. Jónsson was a senior research scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center, where he led projects both in artificial intelligence (AI) development and in AI applications for space missions. Dr. Jónsson has strong relations with the international tech- and development industries having studied and worked for 16 years in Silicon Valley.
Dr. Jónsson went on to add, “Our lives, including business, leisure, and management of things are increasingly moving online. The weakest link when it comes to cybersecurity and data protection is in most cases we humans. That’s why it’s so important to educate and train people on how to avoid these risks. With the training content and methodology that is designed to reach people, joined with the delivery software and soon our new risk management software that is designed to measure the human risk within companies and the effects of any cybersecurity training program, AwareGO will rise to a category of its own.”
About AwareGO
AwareGO is a global provider of human risk & security awareness solutions that help enterprises reduce human risk and improve cybersecurity awareness in the workplace and protect their business from modern-day cybersecurity risks. AwareGO’s continuously growing library of training videos applies best-in-class tools and techniques from the advertising industry to create effective one-minute, real-life videos proven to increase security awareness. To date, the company has successfully trained more than 8 million employees worldwide. Based in Iceland, AwareGO has locations in the United States, Czech Republic, and Croatia. For more information visit awarego.com.
