New operating model and leadership team help enterprises respond faster and prevent compromise in production
Aqua Security, a leading provider of runtime exposure management, announced the next phase of its company transformation, centered on helping enterprises reduce real-world cloud risk faster and more effectively.
As cloud native and AI-driven software development accelerate, security teams are under increasing pressure to reduce noise, prioritize real exposure, and prevent compromise in production. Aqua is sharpening its operating model, leadership focus, and product execution to deliver measurable improvements in response time, remediation efficiency, and production protection.
A Customer-Centric Operating Model
While Aqua remains an engineering-led company operating in one of the most complex areas of cloud technology, it is explicitly moving that technical depth closer to customers.
Aqua is refining how its teams collaborate, respond, and deliver, recognizing that modern security must continuously adapt as applications become more dynamic and harder to defend. The company’s customer-centric operating model emphasizes:
- Simplified deployment and operation of runtime exposure management at enterprise scale
- Reduced operational burden by minimizing time spent investigating and curating non-exploitable vulnerabilities
- Clear quantification of true business risk grounded in production context, not “toxic assumptions”
- Seamless integration with the enterprise security ecosystem, amplifying existing investments and reducing operational complexity
- Reduced mean time metrics that matter across production environments
By operating closer to customers and integrating feedback directly into product decisions, Aqua is reducing friction and enabling security teams to act faster with greater confidence.
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Cloud Native and AI Demand a New Approach
Cloud security has entered a new phase of maturity. Cloud native development has become a competitive differentiator for enterprises, but that maturity has introduced new challenges. AI-assisted development is dramatically increasing the speed and volume at which vulnerabilities enter CI/CD pipelines, pushing even well-resourced vulnerability management teams beyond their limits.
At the same time, CNAPP requirements have broadened beyond what a single company can solve. While originally intended to simplify security and drive consolidation, it has instead become increasingly complex and fragmented. Many organizations now operate overlapping “platforms of platforms,” resulting in alert fatigue, unclear ownership, and operational inefficiency.
In this environment, broad platform coverage and runtime monitoring alone are no longer sufficient. Observation without enforcement generates telemetry but does not materially reduce exposure. Enterprises need best-of-breed partners that operate at cloud native speed, understand real production risk, and apply active controls where compromise actually occurs: at runtime.
Aqua was built for this moment.
With more than a decade of experience securing containers and cloud native workloads in production, Aqua combines vulnerability intelligence with deep runtime context to help customers focus on what truly matters. By validating compensating controls in live environments, Aqua enables smarter prioritization, faster remediation, and lower operational burden.
Leadership to Support the Transformation
To support this customer-centric transformation, Aqua has strengthened its leadership team with appointments designed to improve execution, increase customer proximity, and support scalable growth.
- Mike Dube, appointed chief executive officer, brings more than 20 years of experience driving enterprise security adoption and customer-focused growth.
- Nir Makovski, appointed chief technology officer, leads Aqua’s technical strategy and innovation across runtime protection and AI security.
In addition, Aqua announced the following executive appointments:
- Sean McGowan, promoted from vice president of North America to chief revenue officer, will unify Aqua’s global go-to-market strategy around customer outcomes and long-term value.
- Maayan Arbili, promoted from vice president of customer success to chief customer success officer, will reinforce Aqua’s commitment to adoption, engagement, and measurable customer success.
- Matt Richards, formerly chief marketing officer, appointed chief operating officer, will oversee cross-functional alignment and operational excellence.
- Hadas Finkleman joined Aqua as chief financial officer, bringing to the team her deep financial and operational experience from leadership roles in the technology sector.
- Ayelet Hammar, joined as chief human resources officer, bringing 25 years of global HR leadership experience building and growing technology companies.
Together, this leadership team is tightly aligned around execution, accountability, and customer impact.
“As AI and cloud native development accelerate, customers need trusted, domain-focused partners who move fast, listen closely, and deliver protection that works in production,” said Mike Dube, chief executive officer of Aqua Security. “This next phase of Aqua is about assisting our customers to operationalize prevention and remediation of true business risk, as opposed to investigating volumes of ‘toxic assumptions’. The best place to do that is runtime.”
As Aqua moves forward, the company remains focused on helping customers navigate an increasingly complex threat landscape with security that is preventive, practical, and purpose-built for how modern software actually runs in production.
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