The former VitalEdge Technologies and Red Hat leader brings more than 25 years of experience building high-growth organizations
Sysdig, the leader in real-time AI-powered cloud defense, announced that Teri Harrell has been appointed Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO). Harrell will lead Sysdig’s global people strategy, including recruiting and developing its security, engineering, threat research, and AI talent, which customers depend on to build in the cloud and adopt AI safely. She joins the company amid sustained growth and recognition, with Sysdig named to Built In’s 2026 Best Places to Work and Fast Company’s Best Workplaces for Innovators 2026: Cybersecurity and Enterprise Software. The company also recently reported 110% net revenue retention (NRR) and was named a Leader in “The Forrester Wave™: Cloud Native Application Protection Solutions, Q1 2026” report.
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@Sysdig names Teri Harrell as Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO). Learn more: https://www.sysdig.com/press-releases/sysdig-names-teri-harrell-as-chief-human-resources-officer
With frontier AI models like Anthropic’s Claude Mythos uncovering software vulnerabilities by the thousands and AI-driven cloud attacks unfolding in minutes, securing AI and cloud infrastructure has become the industry’s most consequential engineering challenge. Sysdig Secure AI helps organizations harness machine-speed defense powered by the industry’s deepest runtime intelligence and built on open source Falco, the real-time threat detection engine trusted by more than 60% of the Fortune 500. Meeting the pace and scale of modern threats requires a team that can hire, onboard, and develop expertise as quickly as the threat landscape shifts. Harrell will be responsible for scaling and supporting the talent engine behind Sysdig, deepening employee growth and culture as AI and automation reshape the skills the industry requires.
“The most talented people want to work on the challenges that matter most, and there is no more urgent challenge right now than securing AI at the speed attackers are already moving,” Harrell said. “Sysdig has something a lot of companies spend years trying to manufacture: a team that genuinely believes in its mission. My job is to make sure that conviction scales, giving people clear paths to grow, removing friction that gets in the way of delivering for customers, and continuing to cultivate the kind of workplace where the best talent in the industry chooses to spend their career. Technology is what draws people in, and culture is what turns strong business outcomes into a habit.”
Harrell joins Sysdig from VitalEdge Technologies, where she served as CHRO and led the people strategy that carried the company through a pivotal transition of ownership and leadership while simultaneously positioning it for growth. Earlier in her career, she held HR leadership roles at Red Hat, where she significantly expanded the workforce and delivered the talent management programs behind one of the world’s largest open source organizations. Over more than 25 years, Harrell has specialized in talent acquisition, talent development, and organizational change management, work recognized with the Triangle Business Journal Corporate Leadership Award in 2025. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Management with a focus on human resources from Meredith College, and a certification in Organizational Design from Cornell University.
“Sysdig customers trust us to help defend their most critical cloud and AI systems in real time, and that trust is earned every day by the people who build, sell, and support our platform,” said Hatem Naguib, Sysdig CEO. “Our team is on a mission to solve the most pressing challenges in security, and that takes exceptional people. The quality of our customers’ experience comes directly from the quality of our team, and investing in our people is how we deliver for them. We are delighted to welcome Teri, whose career has been dedicated to cultivating talent through growth and change. She knows how to build an organization where great people can do their best work and customers can feel the difference.”
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