Conifers.ai Taps Former RSA, Cylance and McAfee Leaders for Its Board of Directors Company expands operations with new Dallas headquarters

Conifers.ai Taps Former RSA, Cylance and McAfee Leaders for Its Board of Directors Company expands operations with new Dallas headquarters - Business News

Avr 25, 2025 - 18:35
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Conifers.ai Taps Former RSA, Cylance and McAfee Leaders for Its Board of Directors Company expands operations with new Dallas headquarters

Conifers.ai announced the appointment of three new board members, Chairman Art Coviello of SYN Ventures, David Johnson of TLG Holding and Ryan Permeh of SYN Ventures. These industry veterans bring decades of experience in business strategy, M&A and technology leadership to their positions as advisors for the already fast-growing cybersecurity startup.

This announcement follows the company's recent $25 million funding round led by SYN Ventures and Picus Capital. Since emerging from stealth in January of this year, Conifers has experienced rapid success, more than doubling its headcount to meet growing demand. Additionally, it has expanded its headquarters in Dallas, TX, and is actively hiring for a variety of roles.

New board members include:

Art Coviello
Managing Partner & IC Chairman for Flagship Funds, SYN Ventures
Art Coviello has been a central figure within the information security industry for more than 25 years. Most notably, Coviello served as President and CEO of RSA and following RSA's acquisition by EMC (for $2.1B) as an Executive Vice President of EMC and head of its Security Division. Since stepping down from RSA in 2015 Coviello has been an active investor and advisor in the technology industry, guiding many startups as a private investor and currently as a Managing Partner of SYN Ventures.

David Johnson
Senior Partner/Member of Investment Committee, TLG Holding
David Johnson is a globally recognized corporate strategist and expert in M&A and related integration, having successfully completed more than 120 acquisitions representing more than $40B of equity investment, divestitures, and venture capital investments. Johnson co-founded TLG Capital Partners, after having joined the Blackstone Group where he was a Senior Advisor and Senior Managing Director. While at Blackstone, Johnson led the firm's technology sector where he was responsible for numerous domestic and international acquisitions in Cyber Security, Cloud Solutions, IT Services, Consulting and Outsourcing.

Ryan Permeh
Operating Partner at SYN Ventures
Ryan Permeh was previously the Co-Founder and Chief Scientist of Cylance, acquired by Blackberry for $1.4b in 2020. He led the architecture behind Cylance's mathematical engine and groundbreaking approach to security. Permeh has been in the security industry for over 20 years and has a long history in both offensive and defensive security. Prior to co-founding Cylance, he served as Chief Scientist for McAfee, focused on technology strategy, and as a Distinguished Engineer at eEye Digital Security, focused on building security assessment tools.