Michael Joseph Frendo (born 1960) is a Canadian engineer and investor. Frendo was one of the founders of Cisco Systems technology brands. He is the former Executive Vice President of Polycom. Frendo has recently become the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of the internet security company, Proofpoint.
Michael Joseph Frendo | |
---|---|
Born | 1960 (age 63–64) St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada |
Education | University of Western Ontario (BS) McMaster University (MEng) (DEng) |
Occupation(s) | Engineer, Investor |
Title | Chief technology officer, Worldwide Engineering of Journey.ai |
Career
editCisco Systems
editFrendo spent more than 10 years at Cisco in 2 roles, first as founder and leader of the Cisco Technology Center which was an incubation and advanced technology development team responsible for delivering many first-of products for Cisco in amongst other areas Voice, Cable Data and Wireless. He spent the second half of his tenure at Cisco in the Voice Technology group leading architectural and engineering teams of up to 400 engineers to develop voice technology and products for bot the Enterprise and Service provider segments.[1]
Infinera
editIn 2010, Frendo joined the optical transmission equipment manufacturer Infinera as Vice President of Architecture. Working for Infinera, he headed the team responsible for developing systems and optical architecture,[2] as well as their implementation over the long-term.[3]
Polycom
editIn May 2014, Frendo assumed the position of executive vice president of worldwide engineering at Polycom, a multinational voice and video communication technology company. In this position, he leads Polycom engineers around the world in creating visual collaboration products to be used anywhere. He later helped complete the deal of HP purchasing the company in an all-cash transaction of $40 per share, implying a total enterprise value of approximately $3.3 billion, inclusive of Poly's net debt [4] [5] [6]
Journey.ai
editAfter leaving Polycom, Frendo was appointed as the CTO of the new technology company Journey.ai. Journey.ai Identifies Platforms, and solves security, privacy, and customer experience.
Proofpoint
editMichael Frendo has been appointed to the newly-created role of chief technology officer, engineering, effective immediately. Reporting directly to CEO Ashan Willy and working alongside co-founder Marcel DePaolis, Frendo will spearhead the continued development of Proofpoint’s cohesive platform to thwart threats across the most critical stages of the attack chain. [7]
The company has over a billion dollars in yearly revenue and focuses on defending against criminal cyberattacks.
Investments
editMichael Frendo has been known to invest in Internet startups, financial businesses and restaurants. He has recently been part of the opening of an upscale sports bar in Niagara-on-the-Lake called Bricks and Barley's, along with a lot of properties across the Niagara Region. [8]
References
edit- ^ "Michael Frendo Joining Polycom as Executive Vice President of Worldwide Engineering" (Press release). 12 May 2014.
- ^ "Executive Profile: Michael J. Frendo", Bloomberg Business, Retrieved on 19 July 2015.
- ^ "Michael Frendo Joins Infinera as Vice President of Architecture", Reuters, Sunnyvale, 5 April 2010. Retrieved on 19 July 2015.
- ^ "Michael Frendo Joining Polycom as Executive Vice President of Worldwide Engineering", Polycom, San Jose, 12 May 2014. Retrieved on 19 July 2015.
- ^ "Michael Frendo", Polycom. Retrieved on 19 July 2015.
- ^ "HP Inc. Completes Acquisition of Poly".
- ^ https://finance.yahoo.com/news/proofpoint-appoints-michael-frendo-chief-152900472.html
- ^ "About".