Approva Adds Security and Industry Leaders to Advisory Board with Addition of Howard A. Schmidt and Bryan Palma
May 30, 2006 - Reston, VA
Approva® Corporation, the leader in enterprise controls management software, today announced that Howard A. Schmidt and Bryan Palma have joined Approva’s Strategic Advisory Board. Schmidt and Palma bring extensive industry, government and security expertise to the distinguished group of individuals that comprise Approva’s Advisory Board. Current members include Phil Livingston, who contributed to the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation, and Rick Steinberg, the lead project partner in developing the COSO Integrated Control – Integrated Framework as well as leading practitioners and thought leaders in the audit community.
“We are excited about working with Howard A. Schmidt and Bryan Palma to further advance our market leading position for Enterprise Controls Management solutions,” said Prashanth (PV) Boccasam, Approva’s chief executive officer. “Howard and Bryan bring a wealth of knowledge about how some of the world’s largest and most innovative companies have addressed the compliance challenge.”
Schmidt brings nearly 40 years of experience in corporate security, law enforcement and government. During his career, Schmidt served as vice president and chief information security officer and chief security strategist for online auction giant eBay as well as chief security officer for Microsoft Corp. In addition, Schmidt has more than 31 years of public service where his roles included vice chair for the President’s Critical Infrastructure Protection Board and special adviser for cyberspace security for the White House. He is currently chairman of the board at TrustELI, a broadband security product and services company based in Mount Laurel, New Jersey.
Palma most recently served as chief information security officer at PepsiCo where his responsibilities included coordinating global information security management and information technology compliance for PepsiCo’s operating divisions (Pepsi, PepsiCo International, Frito-Lay, Tropicana, Quaker, and Gatorade). Prior to PepsiCo, Palma served as a special agent in the United States Secret Service where he was co-founder of the Washington DC Electronic Crimes Taskforce and led many of the Secret Service’s early efforts to combat electronic crime. He is currently a principal at Ponic, an information risk consulting firm focused on helping organizations design, manage, and improve security, privacy, and compliance capabilities.
A complete list of the individuals on Approva’s Advisory Board is available at http://www.approva.net/company/advisory/.
About Approva
Approva® Corporation is the industry-leading provider of Enterprise Controls Management software. We enable business, finance, IT and audit professionals to automate the on-demand testing, closed-loop remediation and continuous, exception-based monitoring of controls within and across their business systems. Using our solutions, customers are able to significantly increase visibility into their controls, streamline the audit process, cost-effectively sustain their compliance initiatives and reduce exposure to mistakes, fraud and inefficiencies for business processes such as procurement, sales and delivery, payroll and financial close. In addition, our automated solutions act as key preventative and detective controls, further strengthening our customers’ financial and operational control environments. Global companies such as Campbell Soup Company, Colgate-Palmolive, DirecTV, Discovery Communications, McCormick & Company, P&G, Pratt & Whitney, Siemens and Wyndham Hotels & Resorts rely on Approva BizRights® Platform and Enterprise Controls Suite to reduce compliance risk, increase operational efficiency and flag exceptions to their business controls. For more information, visit www.approva.net.
For More Information Contact:
Elissa Ehrlich
FitzGerald Communications for Approva
212-453-2044