Approva Appoints Industry Veteran as CEO
John Becker to lead the company through next phase of growth and international expansion
October 21, 2008 - Reston, VA
Approva Corporation (http://www.approva.net), the leader in risk and controls intelligence software, today announced the appointment of John Becker as their next chief executive officer. Mr. Becker will also join Approva’s Board of Directors.
“Approva has grown at a remarkable pace over the last four years and was recently named to Deloitte’s prestigious Technology Fast 50 Program as the second fastest growing company in Virginia and recent studies by industry analysts have recognized Approva as an undisputed leader in its market,” said Prashanth “PV” Boccasam, chairman and founder-CEO of Approva since 2001. “Approva is honored and privileged to have John lead the next phase of Approva’s growth and extend our leadership position. I am truly excited about the executive leadership and operational experience he brings to the Approva team.” PV Boccasam will stay on as executive chairman of the board and chief strategist for the company.
With more than 25 years of industry expertise, Mr. Becker is a seasoned technology professional with an extensive track record of success. Mr. Becker was the former chief executive officer of Cybertrust. Under his leadership, Cybertrust grew to become the leading global provider of managed security services and was named by the Washington Business Journal as the fastest growing company in the Washington, DC region in 2006. Cybertrust was acquired by Verizon Business in July, 2007. Prior to Cybertrust, Mr. Becker was chairman and chief executive officer of AXENT Technologies, Inc. (AXENT), a publicly traded information security software and services company. Mr. Becker was instrumental in leading AXENT from a startup in 1994 through an initial public offering in 1996, and its ultimate sale to Symantec Corporation in 2000 for approximately one billion dollars. Under Mr. Becker’s leadership, AXENT achieved a five-year growth rate of more than 1,000% reaching $150 million in revenue with 750 employees across 24 offices around the world. AXENT was consistently recognized for achieving operational and financial excellence as a Deloitte & Touche Technology Fast 50 and a Fast 500 award winner. Mr. Becker is currently a member of the board of Arbor Networks and Sourcefire, Inc. (NASDAQ: FIRE). He also previously served on the Board of Directors of Entevo, another startup co-founded by PV Boccasam.
“At a time when managing, mitigating, and monitoring, business risk is a business imperative, Approva has built a world-class software platform that automatically tests, validates, and continuously monitors the effectiveness of business controls across a myriad of critical business applications and systems within an organization,” said John Becker.” I look forward to leading the exceptional team of experts at Approva and working with our customers and business partners to maximize the value companies receive from our software.”
“Approva’s Board of Directors is thrilled to have an industry veteran of John’s caliber lead the Approva team,” said Tim Guleri, managing director of Sierra Ventures and board member of Approva. “Approva’s proven product and business platform positions the company well for continued growth, expansion and leadership in a highly fragmented market.”