Qualys CEO and MSSP partner advocate Philippe Courtot has resigned his position for health reasons. Courtot took a leave of absence from the cybersecurity and compliance software provider in February 2021. His resignation as CEO ends one of the longest and most successful executive leadership runs in the cybersecurity market over the past two-plus decades.
Courtot invested in Qualys in 1999 when the company was founded, and then became CEO in March 2001, Qualys acting CEO Sumedh Thakar noted in a blog. Even when the dot-com bubble burst, Thakar notes, Courtot doubled down on Internet-centric security and ultimately took Qualys public in 2012. Fast forward to 2020, and revenues grew to $363 million -- up 13 percent from 2019.
In addition to creating roughly 1,500 jobs at Qualys, Courtot also championed the role of MSSPs as security partners. During a phone interview with MSSP Alert in 2020, Courtot reinforced that MSSP partner commitment as part of the company's XDR (eXtended detection and response) technology push.
More recently, the company in early 2021 made multiple hires to further strengthen strategic alliances with systems integrators; SMB business development; marketing and more
For more on Courtot and his industry influence, see this blog from interim Qualys CEO Sumedh Thakar.
