Tell us a bit about your background, Rob.
My love for software goes back to when I was a kid, and to be honest, I was a hacker growing up. In third grade, we should have called prison and made a reservation! But I fell in love with technology at a very young age and by middle school, I was a software developer. It was a pivotal time for technology and it was evolving fast.
My background led me to focus on cybersecurity and a long time ago I co-founded a company focused on mobile security. But I hit my stride when I joined the engineering and product teams at Shavlik Technologies in Minneapolis. When Shavlik was sold to VMware, I was able to get involved in many different projects there and it was an amazing learning experience. Then during my tenure at LANDESK, now rebranded as Ivanti, we created a wonderful stack of security solutions that to this day I’m incredibly proud of.
Shortly after Ivanti, I joined Code42 where I’m now CTO. It’s been an incredible journey working alongside my CEO, Joe Payne. We’ve taken the organization from a backup on-premises product to a cybersecurity, cloud-delivered solution at a massive scale. I couldn’t be prouder of the teams I’ve had the honor of leading – and now today, to be part of Mimecast and leading a significant portion of their technology. (After a successful tech partnership, Mimecast announced the Code42 acquisition on 7/24/24. Rob is now CTO, Insider Risk at Mimecast.)
When and how did you become involved with MESA?
I’ve been involved with MESA for a decade now. I was one of the earlier MESA mentors, and was introduced to the organization by one of the founders, Todd Krautkremer, who recently passed away. He was my former CEO and one of the best leaders I’ve ever had the pleasure of working for. Todd got me involved with MESA and it’s been energizing to see and interact with emerging software businesses. I’ll always be grateful for Todd’s introduction to the organization.
Are there any highlights from your experience working with MESA mentees?
My time with MESA has been great. I’ve had the opportunity to work alongside companies like ReliaBills (MESA graduate in 2016) and then Dispatch (MESA graduate in 2021) which was a great engagement and success story. I’m excited now to be mentoring CyberFin – a business that has a huge amount of untapped potential servicing the security market.
What I love about MESA is that we offer advice to burgeoning leaders and help insulate them from some of the risks you have discovering things on your own. The process we’ve implemented at MESA helps these leaders stay focused on what they need to be focused on, which is the growth of their business. It’s great to talk with them and offer them our advice – but ultimately, it’s always their decision. It’s rewarding for me as a mentor to point to these businesses and to be proud of where they’re at now and what they’ve achieved.
What keeps you involved with MESA? What do you get out of being a mentor?
I think all of us as leaders have to ask ourselves what gets us up every morning. For a long time, my answer has been this: I wake up to build the next generation of leaders. If I’m able to give back to our community, if I’m able to pour my support into individuals and help strengthen them or provide them some element of wisdom that moves things for the better for their business – I’m happy. I’m grateful and blessed with the gifts I’ve been given, and to pass those along gives me joy. I have a faith-centered life and I’m driven to build the world to be a better place. MESA fits me and allows me to give back in a way that I see positive results.
Being a mentor and a leader means being a great enabler for your people. Creating and building great teams is something I’ve been focused on and very proud to do over my career. Bringing your talents and insights to this next generation of CEOs through MESA is rewarding for both mentors and the leaders of the companies we’re mentoring. I’m proud to support my mentees’ growth and point to their success.
