KnowBe4 appoints Cindy Zhou as Chief Marketing Officer

KnowBe4, the provider of the world's largest security awareness training and simulated phishing platform, has announced the appointment of Cindy Zhou as its new Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). Zhou will be charged with overseeing KnowBe4's global marketing, public relations, and sales development strategy.

Zhou takes over the role with an impressive wealth of experience spanning over 20 years, during which she has built high-impact marketing organisations that have generated qualified leads, strong sales pipelines, industry awareness, and customer loyalty. In addition to her successful executive and advisory roles, Zhou's reputation as a champion for women in technology and cybersecurity is well-recognised. She was a founding member of the executive network, Chief, in 2021, and she regularly hosts Women in Security roundtables. In 2023, Zhou was named as a DCA Live 2023 Star CMO for the third time and as a Top 101 B2B Marketing Influencer by CMO Huddles just last week.

Welcome words came from KnowBe4's CEO, Stu Sjouwerman, who expressed the company's delight at having Zhou onboard. He says, "We are thrilled to welcome Cindy to KnowBe4 as our new chief marketing officer. Her extensive experience and remarkable achievements in cybersecurity marketing make her the ideal candidate to lead our global marketing, PR, and sales development efforts. Her passion for the industry reflects KnowBe4's commitment to delivering an exceptional customer experience with innovative products to help customers better protect themselves and their organisations. We are confident that Cindy's expertise will help us further solidify our position as the industry leader for strengthening security culture in the security awareness training and simulated phishing market."

In response to her appointment, Zhou says, "My decision to join KnowBe4 was influenced by several key factors, including the organisation's mission, its award-winning culture and, most importantly, its exceptional team. I look forward to leveraging my experience in cybersecurity to drive KnowBe4's marketing, PR, and sales development strategies while strengthening our market presence and enabling organisations to make smarter security decisions."

KnowBe4 is well-known for its security awareness training and simulated phishing platform, which is utilised by more than 65,000 organisations globally. Founded by IT and data security specialist Stu Sjouwerman, KnowBe4 aims to address security issues from a human perspective, raising awareness about tactics such as ransomware, CEO fraud and other potentially harmful social engineering methods. The company believes in a new-school approach to security awareness training, and its late Chief Hacking Officer, internationally recognised cybersecurity specialist Kevin Mitnick, had a hand in designing the KnowBe4 training based on his well-documented social engineering tactics. Across the globe, organisations depend on KnowBe4 to equip their users with the knowledge and skills to serve as the final defence line and to foster a security-conscious culture that reduces human risk.