NEC, Socure, SecureAuth, ID Secure, Simprints add senior leadership

Several companies in the biometric and digital ID space have expanded their leadership teams with new appointments.

The first is NEC Corporation of America, which recently welcomed Kris Ranganath as its senior vice president (VP) of digital platform (DPF).

At NEC America, Ranganath will focus on defining the strategy and vision of DPF. Ranganath will report directly to CEO Chris Jackson. He brings over 20 years in vision artificial intelligence (AI), digital identity, biometrics, and digital platforms to the company.

The executive held several roles at NEC over the past few years, including chief technology officer and VP of technology and solutions. Most recently, Ranganath served as senior vice president of innovation at Paravision.

“I am thrilled to return to NEC,” Ranganath says, commenting on the appointment. “NEC has a long history of driving innovation in the vision AI and biometrics space. With the success of our NeoFace technology in leading NIST’s accuracy evaluations since 2010, I look forward to further expanding our vision AI portfolio in security, video analytics, and healthcare markets.”

Socure welcomes senior director of government affairs

The next company on our list today is Socure. The company has hired Jennifer Kerber as senior director of government affairs in a bid to push the public sector adoption of inclusive identity verification standards.

Kerber’s role will focus on working with legislators, policymakers, and government stakeholders to address digital identity challenges and ensure Socure’s solutions align with the evolving needs of government agencies.

“Government agencies at all levels are confronting serious challenges to identifying citizens accurately and equitably while ensuring taxpayers aren’t funding illegal activities,” she says. “I’m thrilled to be joining Socure and look forward to advancing policies that bring digital identity verification into the 21st century.”

The executive has 20 years of public policy experience, including different positions at Grant Thornton and the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies.

Kerber joins Socure days after the company published its latest analysis of ID fraud in small banking and investment platforms.

SecureAuth hires two industry veterans

Kelly Wenzel joined SecureAuth as its chief customer officer and will be responsible for supporting the company’s commitment to ensuring an excellent customer experience as they expand their passwordless journey.

Howard Greenfield, on the other hand, is now part of the SecureAuth Advisory Board, bringing more than two decades of go-to-market expertise to the company.

“I’m excited to welcome Kelly and Howard to the SecureAuth team,” explains Paul Trulove, CEO of SecureAuth.

“Kelly’s expertise will be crucial in maintaining an excellent customer experience, while Howard’s deep experience in helping to successfully navigate global growth will provide valuable insights as we continue to expand. We had a breakthrough year in 2022 and look forward to building off of the momentum for an outstanding 2023.”

The hires come weeks after SecureAuth entered a new partnership with multi-cloud infrastructure automation software firm HashiCorp.

ID Secure appoints SVP of Identity Solutions

Nadia Reid has been chosen by ID Secure as its senior vice president of identity solutions to lead the company’s business development and expansion into new markets, according to an announcement on LinkedIn.

Ried brings 14 years of experience in leadership roles at prominent biometrics and identity technology providers like Paravision and Thales. In those roles she was largely focussed on multimodal biometric solutions, digital identity applications, and system integrator solution development practices for the federal government, law enforcement agencies and civil identification.

Simprints welcomes chief people and culture officer

Writing in a LinkedIn post last week, Simprints highlighted Tara Clarkson’s experience in talent attraction, development, and engagement.

“Tara brings a dynamic energy to the team that inspires excellence in everything we do,” Simprints wrote. “Tara’s innovative approach to HR and unwavering dedication to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are just a few of the many reasons we’re excited to have her on board.”

Before joining the company as its chief people and culture officer, Clarkson spent three years as a global head of people and talent management at community-powered circular fashion marketplace Depop.

At Simprints, Clarkson said she would lead the company’s efforts to create a diverse, inclusive, and engaged workforce.

“I am grateful for this opportunity to join a company that is making a true difference in the world and to be part of a team that is committed to creating positive social change,” she wrote on LinkedIn. Simprints first put out a call for this position in November 2022.

The company has also recently announced on Twitter that Andrew Bastawrous from Peek Vision has joined the Simprints advisory board.

Cerence announces CTO resignation, looks for replacement

The U.S.-based company unveiled the intentions in an 8-K form filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last week.

In the document, Cerence said its chief technology officer (CTO) Prateek Kathpal has decided to resign as of May 8, 2023, in order to pursue another opportunity.

Because of this, the company has started looking for a replacement (though its LinkedIn job page still does not show an ad for this).

In this interim period, the company’s technology and platform organization will report to Nils Schanz, Cerence’s chief product officer.

Article Topics

appointments  |  biometrics  |  Cerence  |  digital identity  |  IDSecure  |  NECAM  |  SecureAuth  |  SimPrints  |  Socure