Darktrace Bolsters Leadership with New CFO and CRO Appointments

Darktrace, a global leader in AI for cybersecurity, has announced two significant senior appointments to its Executive Committee that signal strategic positioning for future growth. Suman Raju joins as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Hein Hellemons assumes the role of Chief Revenue Officer (CRO), both reporting directly to CEO Jill Popelka. Raju brings exceptional global finance experience from high-growth software businesses, having previously served as CFO at Ivalua where he helped prepare the company for public markets and drove strong growth in recurring revenue. Meanwhile, Hellemons brings a breadth of experience leading go-to-market teams at global cybersecurity and technology companies, most recently serving as CRO at KnowBe4 where he played a key role in scaling the business through global sales, marketing, and customer success operations.

The appointments come at a pivotal moment for Darktrace as the company continues its transformation journey following last year's sale to Thoma Bravo. Raju succeeds Cathy Graham, who left the CFO role in September after five years of service, while Hellemons replaces Denise Walter, who stepped down as CRO post-acquisition. Both new executives expressed excitement about joining Darktrace during what they describe as a period of real momentum, with Raju emphasizing the opportunity to build strong foundations for sustainable growth in the U.S. and global markets, and Hellemons highlighting Darktrace's best-in-class technology that detects never-before-seen threats in real time. The company's proprietary AI technology learns from unique patterns of life for each customer, providing pre-emptive visibility into security posture and autonomous threat response across networks, cloud, and email environments.

Founded in 2013, Darktrace has established itself as a cybersecurity powerhouse with over 2,300 employees protecting nearly 10,000 customers worldwide using its ActiveAI Security Platform. The company's breakthrough innovations from R&D teams in Cambridge, UK, and The Hague, Netherlands have resulted in over 200 patent applications, demonstrating its commitment to advancing AI-driven cybersecurity solutions. CEO Jill Popelka emphasized that both executives' expertise will be critical as Darktrace continues to scale and transform, with Raju responsible for financial strategy and execution alignment with long-term goals, and Hellemons leading global Sales and Solutions Engineering to strengthen customer and prospect engagement across key markets and industries.