Elemental Names Google Executive To Its Board Of Directors, Further Broadens Experience Of Security Compliance Management Provider
SAN MATEO, Calif. – April 28, 2005 Elemental Security, Inc.?â€, a company pioneering new technology in enterprise information security with its next-generation security compliance management product, today announced it has named Dr. Douglas C. Merrill, Senior Director of Information Systems at Google Inc., to its Board of Directors.
Elemental delivers the world’s only product that unifies policy management, host configuration and network access control in one seamlessly integrated offering. For the first time, enterprises can easily express cross-platform security policies that affect individual computers and their behavior on the network, gather meaningful up-to-date information to compare to established metrics, and selectively enforce policies across a diverse, dynamic environment. Security compliance has become a top priority for enterprises due to pressures from increasing frequency and severity of security breaches, and from regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
“The addition of this proven leader to the Elemental Board of Directors further adds to our growing corporate capabilities,” said Elemental CEO Peter Watkins. “Douglas joined Google during a critical growth phase, and excelled in helping the company expand into the leadership position it holds today. As Senior Director of Information Services at Google, Douglas’ perspective will help to ensure our customer focus.”
Dr. Merrill joins existing Elemental board members David Cowan, general partner at Bessemer Venture Partners; Robin Vasan, managing director at Mayfield; Sameer Gandhi, partner at Sequoia Capital; Peter Watkins, Elemental CEO; Dan Farmer, Elemental co-founder and CTO; and Dayne Myers, Elemental co-founder.
“I am pleased to join this group of industry luminaries on Elemental’s Board of Directors, and contribute a customer perspective during the company’s growth phase,” said Dr. Merrill. “The Elemental products address the ever-growing security and compliance issues of enterprises. Customers are excited by the innovative value the Elemental policy-based security solution brings to their organizations.”
Before joining Google last year, Dr. Merrill served as Senior Vice President, Charles Schwab and Co., Inc., from 2000 until 2004. At Schwab, he was responsible for multiple functions, including Information Security, Common Infrastructure, and Human Resources Strategy and Operations. Prior to Schwab, Dr. Merrill held positions at Price Waterhouse and the RAND Corporation, as well as various academic roles. He earned a B.A. from the University of Tulsa, and an M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Princeton University.
Elemental helps organizations realize cost and time savings by reducing their number of security incidents. The Elemental Compliance System reduces exposure to risks by providing visibility and understanding of enterprises’ computing environments through continuous monitoring. The product also identifies and contains unauthorized machines on the network, and enforces required policies to ensure compliance. Additionally, the product reduces the cost of network and policy administration; and reduces the cost, frequency and effort involved in internal and external audit exercises.
Elemental’s products address enterprise problems such as ensuring that policies are being adhered to by all machines in dynamic computing environments; providing for a unified, up-to-date view of all systems in the network and how they are performing against internal security standards and external regulatory requirements; and enforcing access controls and quarantines on systems not meeting guidelines set up by security and IT administrators.
About Elemental Elemental Security is a pioneer in the Security Compliance Management market. Elemental’s products address enterprises’ need to centrally manage the security compliance of all computers in their environment. Elemental provides unified visibility and control to manage dynamic computing environments, enabling enterprises to satisfy compliance requirements and measurably improve their security. Founded in December 2002, Elemental is a privately held company backed by Bessemer Venture Partners, Mayfield and Sequoia Capital. The company is headquartered in San Mateo, Calif., and has regional offices throughout the U.S. Go to http://www.elementalsecurity.com for more information.