Security luminary René Bonvanie joins Guardsquare Board; Felix Van de Maele appointed Board Advisor

Leuven, Belgium (Mar 05, 2019)– Guardsquare, a market-leading security company specializing in protecting the next generation of complex mobile applications, has appointed René Bonvanie, the CMO of Palo Alto Networks, to its board of directors. Felix Van de Maele, the CEO and co-founder of Belgian data company Collibra—a “unicorn” valued at US$1 billion—is joining as a board advisor.

Guardsquare—a company at the forefront of helping enterprises manage the digital transformation of their businesses—makes a widely used open-source security platform already in use with over a million apps to enable agile software innovation. Specifically, the company’s technology protects increasingly critical mobile apps, usually being deployed outside corporate firewalls, from dangerous security threats. Guardsquare is pioneering mobile and IoT application security in a world where over 20 billion connected devices are expected to be running applications at the edge by 2020. Earlier this year, Guardsquare announced a $29 million investment from Battery Ventures. As part of the transaction, Battery General Partner Dharmesh Thakker and Battery Principal Paul Morrissey joined Guardsquare’s board of directors.

The board now welcomes René Bonvanie as a new member. Bonvanie has more than thirty years of executive management and marketing experience in enterprise technology and has led marketing at Palo Alto Networks since 2009. Bonvanie also serves on the board of IoT security company Armis and, prior to his current role at Palo Alto Networks, had executive marketing roles at Business Objects, VERITAS, and Oracle.

Bonvanie stated: “The cybersecurity landscape is evolving rapidly because of the increasing adoption of connected devices and the advent of new technologies such as 5G. Guardsquare provides security capabilities that are increasingly critical in this changing landscape. I look forward to using my European background and security expertise to drive the adoption of Guardsquare’s products on both sides of the Atlantic.”

Felix Van de Maele will join as a board advisor. Van de Maele is the CEO and co-founder of Belgian unicorn Collibra, a leader in enterprise data governance and catalog software. He brings to the table an impressive track-record in scaling a high-tech European enterprise and gaining a strong foothold in the US market.

“Using the experience I gained with Collibra, I am looking forward to providing strategic advice to Guardsquare’s board—and am excited to help another Belgian tech company to expand in the US,” Van de Maele said.

“Bonvanie and Van de Maele both have in-depth knowledge of the software industry and its needs,” said Roel Caers, CEO of Guardsquare. “They believe that our company’s mobile security solutions are important for any organization operating in this mobile-first world. Both men will join forces with Belgian fintech pioneer and Guardsquare board member Jurgen Ingels to accelerate Guardsquare’s growth.”