Strategic leadership moves sharpen focus on applied AI and innovation as cyber risks and operational complexity accelerate
N‑able, Inc. , a global cybersecurity company delivering business resilience, announced strategic leadership appointments of Robert Johnston as Chief Innovation Officer and Nicole Reineke as Chief AI Officer. These leadership updates are designed to accelerate business resilience and innovation across its security services, product ecosystem, and applied AI capabilities.
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As organizations face increasing pressure from evolving cyberthreats, rapid AI disruption, and growing operational complexity, these appointments underscore N‑able’s commitment to building a platform that goes beyond defense, enabling businesses to adapt, recover, and thrive. By pairing dedicated innovation leadership with a focused AI strategy, N‑able is reinforcing the foundation partners rely on to deliver proactive, resilient security services at scale.
“These leadership appointments reflect our purposeful investment in innovation and AI,” said John Pagliuca, CEO at N‑able. “Robert and Nicole bring complementary strengths that will help us turn emerging technology into practical and measurable business resilience outcomes, while continuing to build a platform that aligns with the future of security operations.”
As Chief Innovation Officer, Robert Johnston, founder of Adlumin, will lead strategic innovation initiatives across the company’s security services and broader product portfolio. Johnston will focus on bridging deep technical expertise with go-to-market execution and customer-facing teams, ensuring that innovation remains closely aligned with real-world security challenges and the evolving needs of partners and customers.
Johnston brings decades of experience in cybersecurity, threat intelligence, and national security. Prior to founding Adlumin, he served as a principal consultant at CrowdStrike, leading counterespionage efforts against nation-state, criminal, and hacktivist adversaries across industries, and previously held elite cyber leadership roles in the United States Marine Corps, including within the Cyber National Mission Force and Marine Corps Red Team. A respected voice in the field, Johnston has contributed to major media outlets such as MSNBC, published across leading industry and academic platforms, and received multiple honors for his work advancing cybersecurity.
As Chief AI Officer, Nicole Reineke will lead N‑able’s applied AI strategy across its product portfolio and partner ecosystem, with a focus on delivering practical, outcome‑driven innovation that enables businesses to operate more efficiently and securely at scale. At N‑able, Reineke established the company’s AI A2A and Model Context Protocol (MCP) capabilities, transforming how customers and partners interact with endpoint management and improving user efficiency up to 70%.
Reineke brings deep technical and industry leadership in artificial intelligence and machine learning, with a strong track record in AI ethics, intellectual property, and sustainable design. She previously served as a Senior Distinguished Engineer in Dell Technologies’ Office of the CTO and as Senior Vice President of Innovation at Iron Mountain, and is the founder of CATMIP.org, where she developed an industry ontology to improve the accuracy and interoperability of AI systems. Ranked among the top global inventors with 58 patents since 2021, Reineke is also a Georgetown University faculty member, published author, and frequent keynote speaker known for advancing practical, responsible AI innovation.
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