Netwrix Appoints Avesta Hojjati as CTO, Marcin Gierlak as VP Engineering, Natalie Tomlin as Head of Channel
Artificial intelligence has fundamentally changed the threat landscape facing enterprise security teams — simultaneously arming adversaries with more capable attack tools, accelerating data leakage risks, and expanding the identity surface that organisations must protect. The companies best positioned to respond are those that can innovate at the intersection of AI, identity security, and partner-driven distribution simultaneously. Netwrix, a recognised leader in identity and data security solutions, has announced a significant leadership expansion — appointing Avesta Hojjati as Chief Technology Officer, Marcin Gierlak as Vice President of Engineering and Kraków Site Leader, and Natalie Tomlin as Head of Channel for North America.
The three hires — drawn from SecurityScorecard, Napster, Palo Alto Networks, McAfee, Trellix, DigiCert, HID Global, and IBM — represent a deliberate and coordinated build-out of Netwrix's leadership bench across engineering innovation and channel growth. Together, they are designed to accelerate the company's product roadmap in AI-powered security governance and to expand its partner-driven go-to-market reach across North America at a moment when enterprise demand for identity and data security solutions is rising sharply.
"With AI fueling both external attackers and data leakage, our customers are confronted by security challenges that are more complex than ever — more identities, more data, more risk. We're bringing in leaders across engineering and channel to accelerate innovation and help partners improve customers' security posture and AI governance."
— Grady Summers, CEO, Netwrix
The Three Appointments — What Each Leader Brings to Netwrix
Avesta Hojjati — Chief Technology Officer
Avesta Hojjati joins Netwrix from SecurityScorecard, where he served as CTO and led cross-functional teams spanning AI, data science, threat intelligence, product engineering, and core platform operations — taking a new platform from concept to production in under 12 months. Before SecurityScorecard, he spent eight years at DigiCert focused on IoT security and digital trust. An inventor on more than 45 patents, his expertise spans both offensive and defensive security, machine learning, and distributed systems — a technical depth that directly underpins Netwrix's roadmap for AI-powered identity and data security. As CTO, he will drive the product and technology vision at the precise intersection of AI innovation and enterprise security governance.
Marcin Gierlak — Vice President of Engineering & Kraków Site Leader
Marcin Gierlak joins from Napster, where he served as VP of Engineering leading teams focused on machine learning and AI research in production systems. His earlier career includes engineering leadership roles at HID Global and IBM, with extensive experience leading distributed engineering teams across multiple geographies — a critical capability for a global engineering operation. Based in Kraków, Gierlak will also serve as site leader for Netwrix's innovation centre and engineering hub there — a facility that serves as a key pillar of the company's global product development footprint and engineering scale-up across Europe.
Natalie Tomlin — Head of Channel for North America
Natalie Tomlin brings extensive channel and partner leadership experience across leading cybersecurity companies — including McAfee, Trellix, and Palo Alto Networks — where she built and scaled partner programmes across national and commercial markets, working with MSPs and cloud providers including AWS and Azure. Recognised by CRN as a Woman of the Channel, she has a proven track record of building partner-driven growth at the scale that enterprise cybersecurity distribution demands. At Netwrix, Tomlin will focus on expanding the North American partner network and optimising go-to-market strategy through channel partnerships — a role that is central to Netwrix's growth ambitions at a moment when partner-driven demand for identity and AI security governance solutions is accelerating.
The Context — Why AI Has Made Identity and Data Security More Complex Than Ever
The security challenge that Netwrix's new leaders are walking into is not simply a larger version of the problem that existed five years ago — it is a structurally different one. AI has changed both sides of the security equation simultaneously. On the threat side, AI-powered tools enable adversaries to enumerate identities, craft convincing phishing campaigns, and exploit access gaps at a speed and scale that manual security operations cannot match. On the data side, AI adoption within enterprises is itself generating new leakage vectors — as employees use AI tools in ways that move sensitive data beyond the boundaries that governance programmes were designed to protect.
The result is an environment where enterprises face more identities to protect, more data to govern, and more risk surface to monitor — while simultaneously needing to enable AI-driven productivity rather than simply restricting it. This is precisely the problem space where Netwrix's platform operates: giving organisations the visibility, control, and governance infrastructure they need to run securely in an AI-accelerated world without creating friction that prevents the legitimate use of the technologies driving business value.
"I'm thrilled to join Netwrix at such a pivotal time. The convergence of AI and cybersecurity is reshaping the threat landscape, and Netwrix is uniquely positioned to help organizations navigate this complexity with solutions that protect identities and data while enabling business agility."
— Avesta Hojjati, Chief Technology Officer, Netwrix
Netwrix's Platform — Identity and Data Security for the AI Era
Netwrix is headquartered in Frisco, Texas, and serves organisations across industries that need to secure their identities, govern their data, and demonstrate compliance with confidence. Its platform gives security and IT teams the visibility to know who has access to what, detect anomalous activity before it becomes a breach, and respond to threats faster — with AI governance capabilities that are increasingly central to enterprise security programmes as AI adoption accelerates across the business.
SecurityScorecard CTO → DigiCert (8 years, IoT security & digital trust) → 45+ patents → AI, data science, threat intelligence, machine learning, distributed systems.
Napster VP Engineering (ML & AI in production) → HID Global → IBM → distributed engineering leadership across multiple geographies → Kraków site leader.
Palo Alto Networks → McAfee → Trellix → CRN Woman of the Channel → MSP & cloud partner programmes (AWS, Azure) → North America channel & partner strategy.
Key Takeaways
Netwrix has made three simultaneous senior leadership appointments — Avesta Hojjati as CTO, Marcin Gierlak as VP of Engineering and Kraków Site Leader, and Natalie Tomlin as Head of Channel for North America — to accelerate engineering innovation and partner-driven growth across its identity and data security platform.
Avesta Hojjati brings over 45 patents, a track record of taking platforms from concept to production in under 12 months at SecurityScorecard, and eight years of IoT security and digital trust leadership at DigiCert — combining offensive and defensive security expertise with AI, machine learning, and distributed systems depth directly relevant to Netwrix's product roadmap.
Marcin Gierlak's appointment as Kraków Site Leader strengthens Netwrix's European engineering hub — bringing ML and AI production systems experience from Napster and distributed team leadership from HID Global and IBM to scale the company's global product development capabilities.
Natalie Tomlin's channel leadership background at Palo Alto Networks, McAfee, and Trellix — and her recognition as a CRN Woman of the Channel — positions Netwrix to significantly expand its North American partner network through MSPs and cloud providers as enterprise demand for AI security governance intensifies. Learn more at netwrix.com.
The simultaneous appointment of three senior leaders across technology, engineering, and channel reflects a company operating with strategic intent across every dimension of its growth. Netwrix is not filling gaps in its leadership structure — it is building the team that will define what identity and data security looks like in an era where AI has become the most powerful force on both sides of the security equation. With Avesta Hojjati setting the technology direction, Marcin Gierlak scaling the engineering operation, and Natalie Tomlin driving the partner-powered go-to-market motion, the company is building for the complexity its customers are already living.
To learn more about Netwrix's identity and data security platform and partner programme, visit netwrix.com.