Cybersecurity Expert and Industry Veteran Stephen Semmelroth Joins AVANT's Industry-Leading Security Practice as New Senior Director of Security
CHICAGO, April 5, 2022 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- AVANT, a platform for IT decision-making and the nation's premier Technology Services Distributor, today launched an enhanced Security practice, naming a new senior director of security, Stephen Semmelroth, to lead the initiative. The enhanced Security practice division of AVANT provides its vast network of technology and channel professionals, known as Trusted Advisors, with reliable resources to keep them ahead of the constant pace of change in security technology services across the IT landscape.
As security becomes increasingly more important in technology, the enhanced Security offering includes the launch of a Security Task Force made up of a diverse group of industry experts from around the channel to provide fresh and unique perspectives to ensure Trusted Advisors are consistently armed with the most up-to-date and impactful tools and resources. Additionally, the practice will build on extensive existing resources including expert engineers, robust training and certifications and a deep portfolio of more than 50 top security providers to offer their customers the most comprehensive security protection in the channel. Key providers include eSentire, Alert Logic, Comcast Business/Masergy, Cloudflare and Trustwave.
"I couldn't be more excited to join AVANT to lead the Security practice at a time when technology security is a top priority across all organizations," said Semmelroth. "AVANT already has the number one security practice within the channel, and I'm committed to continually scaling our practice to help our Trusted Advisors simplify complex and multi-faceted security discussions. With the support of our experienced security engineers, Trusted Advisors will have access to a deep security knowledge base that will help them develop dynamic plans to better guide their customers."
A West Point graduate, prior to joining AVANT, Semmelroth served as a Ranger in the US Army and led an infantry platoon in Afghanistan as well as cyber teams. After retiring from the Army, he founded and sold a cyber recruiting company which is where he first fell in love with the broker community. Semmelroth is a vCISO, CISSP, keynote speaker, podcast host, involved in multiple nonprofits and personally mentors hundreds of founders and cybersecurity professionals every year. In his role as senior director of security, Semmelroth will serve as AVANT's security evangelist, responsible for business development for security vendors, scaling and evaluating new vendors and emerging technologies, developing the training curriculum and content for AVANT's Trusted Advisors, and serve as a knowledge resource for AVANT, AVANT vendors and Trusted Advisors with the latest information, trends and technology on security.
"Stephen's background in security is incredibly impressive and we're thrilled to welcome him to AVANT," said Drew Lydecker, co-founder and president of AVANT. "His experience in practicing cybersecurity and leading clients through disaster and change makes him the perfect expert to support AVANT's Trusted Advisors and continually build AVANT Security practice."
To date, more than 900 Trusted Advisors have completed the AVANT security certification program. The company ended 2021 with a 183% increase in revenue compared to 2020 driven in part by the expert insight provided by AVANT Sales Engineers including senior director of engineering Niko O'Hara, senior director of cloud engineering Bill Franklin, sales engineer Dane Menke, director of engineering James Christian, cloud sales engineer Sarah Arnstein and Semmelroth.
"We're proud to be the number one resource to navigate the ever-evolving state of security and that starts with our talented team members who are able to draw on their vast experience and next-level knowledge to simplify complex challenges," said Shane McNamara, executive vice president of engineering and operations at AVANT. "Security is increasingly becoming the primary focus for companies across all industries and our team, training and technology enables Trusted Advisors to develop unique plans tailored to companies' needs in order to keep them protected against threats."
The AVANT team will be in attendance at the 2022 Channel Partners Conference & Expo taking place April 11 through April 14 in Las Vegas. The AVANT Security Zone, located at the expo entrance, will provide attendees an opportunity to network and review research from the AVANT Analytics team, connect with AVANT's world-class engineers, experience the newest Pathfinder features and learn more about the company's industry-leading Security Taskforce and vision for supporting Trusted Advisors. A Security VIP Session with AVANT will take place on Tuesday, April 12 at 2:30 p.m. PST in the main keynote ballroom. Visit here for more information and to reserve your spot.
To learn more about AVANT and its industry-leading security practice, please visit https://goavant.net/.
About AVANT
AVANT is the nation's premier Technology Services Distributor and leading industry platform for IT decision-making. AVANT provides unique value to its extensive network of Trusted Advisors with its proprietary customer facing tool, Pathfinder, original research, channel sales enablement, training, and resources to guide business decisions for next generation technologies. From the strongest security services and latest UCaaS and CCaaS solutions, to complex cloud designs and global wide-area network deployments, AVANT sets the industry standard as the leading Technology Services Distributor, enabling its partners and clients to make intelligent, data-driven decisions about services, technology and cost-effective communications. For more information about AVANT, visit http://www.goavant.net, or connect on Twitter and LinkedIn.
Media Contact
Katie Butler, Walker Sands, for AVANT, 6145075512, [email protected]
SOURCE AVANT
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