Our Leadership
Oren Falkowitz
CEO and Co-founder

Oren Falkowitz
CEO and Co-founder
Oren Falkowitz co-founded Area 1 Security to discover and eliminate targeted phishing attacks before they cause damage to organizations. Previously, he held senior positions at the National Security Agency (NSA) and United States Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM), where he focused on Computer Network Operations & Big Data. That’s where he realized the immense need for preemptive cybersecurity.
Phil Syme
CTO and Co-founder

Phil Syme
CTO and Co-founder
Phil Syme has 22 years of information technology experience. His areas of expertise include system architecture, data processing at scale, and cloud technologies. Phil was previously a Chief Engineer at Next Century Corporation, co-founder and Principal Engineer at eSymmetrix, and co-authored two introductory programming books. He holds a B.S. in Mathematics and Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University School of Computer Science.
Blake Darché
CSO and Co-founder

Blake Darché
CSO and Co-founder
Blake J. Darché is a Co-Founder and the Chief Security Officer at Area 1 Security. Prior to this, he worked at CrowdStrike as a Principal Consultant, and at the National Security Agency as a Computer Network Exploitation Analyst. Blake holds an MS degree in Security Informatics from The Johns Hopkins University and a BS in Information Technology from the Rochester Institute of Technology. Blake has built his career across a range of information security skill areas, including experience in both offense and defense.
Shalabh Mohan
VP, Products & Marketing

Shalabh Mohan
VP, Products & Marketing
With a career spanning 20 years fighting bad guys online, Shalabh leads all product and go-to-market functions at Area 1 Security, with extensive prior experience across security, enterprise, and cloud infrastructure companies such as Aspen Networks, IronPort Systems, Cisco, Bracket Computing. Shalabh and his teams have taken products from conception all the way to large scale businesses; and in the process have consistently helped make the Internet a safer place. An alumnus of Stanford University and University of Texas at Austin, Shalabh is a holder of 5 patents and can claim to know something about enterprise infrastructure, security and complex price modeling. An avid sports nut and a bigger fantasy football fanatic, Shalabh is known to get severely distracted by travel, books, movies and food.
Paul East
VP, Engineering

Paul East
VP, Engineering
As Vice President of Engineering at Area 1 Security, Paul is responsible for all engineering and operations. He holds a BS in Computer Science from NC State University, and an MBA from Kenan-Flagler Business School. Paul brings to us over 16 years of experience in building and leading security product development. Prior to joining Area 1 Security, Paul led Engineering teams at Spirent and OneLogin.
Casey Franko
VP, Finance

Casey Franko
VP, Finance
Casey brings over a decade of experience growing enterprise software and cybersecurity companies like SenSage (acquired by KEYW), CSC (now DXC Technology), and Intraspect (now Open Text). Casey has also been a financial advisor to several early-stage software companies. Previous experience includes corporate development and private equity investments. Casey holds a Bachelor of Science from the McIntire School at the University of Virginia and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Kim del Fierro
VP, Marketing

Kim del Fierro
VP, Marketing
Kim brings to Area 1 Security a career spanning 21 years in leading, strategizing, and delivering successful go-to-market initiatives. She spearheaded global teams in driving rapid adoption of first-to-market technologies, resulting in sustained demand and revenue growth. Prior to Area 1 Security, Kim held marketing leadership roles at CloudPhysics, Ixia, Net Optics, Avocent, and Cyclades. Kim earned her BS in Psychology from the University of California, Davis, with a minor in Rhetoric and Communications.
Kyle Parrish
VP, Business Operations

Kyle Parrish
VP, Business Operations
Kyle is responsible for customer acquisition and growth at Area 1 Security. In that role, he oversees sales, business development, sales engineering, and sales operations. Kyle has held positions as the VP of Sales at Showpad, Head of Sales at Google for both Wildfire and Google Analytics Premium, and Global Sales for the MySQL business unit at Oracle. As a proud Bronco, Kyle holds two degrees from Santa Clara University: an MBA and a BA.