Executive Team Biographies
Dean Drako
President and CEO
Since founding Barracuda Networks, Dean has expanded the company from a spam and virus firewall provider to a broad line security, networking and storage solutions company offering appliances and SaaS. Prior to Barracuda Networks, Dean founded Boldfish, a leading provider of enterprise messaging solutions (acquired by Siebel Systems). Before Boldfish, Dean was founder, president and CEO of Design Acceleration Inc. (DAI), maker of superior design analysis and verification tools (acquired by Cadence Design Systems). He has served as an entrepreneur in residence for SoftBank Venture Capital as well as vice president of product engineering at the 3DO Company. Dean holds a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and M.S. in electrical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. In 2007, Dean was named âTechnology Entrepreneur of the Year for Northern Californiaâ by Ernst & Young.
Michael Perone
Executive Vice President and CMO
As co-founder, executive vice president and CMO at Barracuda Networks, Michael Perone is responsible for worldwide communications and marketing strategies, including corporate brand management and identity. Michael has more than 20 years of experience in the high-tech industry, and was a pioneer in delivering free Internet access to users worldwide. Michael co-founded and served on the board of directors for Address.com, a leading free email and Internet access service which reached more than 3.5 million users (acquired by WhitePages). Michael also co-founded Spinway Inc. (acquired by Kmart Corporation), the fastest growing Internet Service Provider (ISP) in history, reaching eight million customers in just eight months. In addition, Michael co-founded Affinity Path, a private-label ISP which powered and supported thousands of ISPs throughout North America. Michael has also held engineering positions with GE Aerospace, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratories, and served as consultant to Lockheed/Martin. Michael was a 2007 Ernst & Young âTechnology Entrepreneur of the Year for Northern Californiaâ award recipient and he is currently an advisor to Bootup Labs, a Vancouver-based startup accelerator.
Zachary Levow
CTO
Zachary Levow is a pioneer in mail server development, remote access, and the free Internet space. As co-founder and CTO at Barracuda Networks, Zach leads the innovation and development of Barracuda Networksâ solutions. Prior to Barracuda Networks, Zach was co-founder and vice president of engineering for Affinity Path, a self-service, private label and profitable DSL/dial-up ISP with more than 4,000 partners. Prior to Affinity Path, Zach was co-founder and CTO of Spinway Inc., the fastest growing ISP in history reaching eight million customers in just eight months (acquired by Kmart Corporation). During his tenure at Spinway, Zach was the lead developer of the Spinway architecture, one of the world's largest client server applications at that time. He has also worked as a software development and architectural software design consultant for clients such as Sun Microsystems, Computer Sciences Corporation, Cadence Design Systems, and Motorola Inc. Zach received a B.S. in mathematics and computer science from Carnegie Mellon University. Zach was a 2007 Ernst & Young âTechnology Entrepreneur of the Year for Northern Californiaâ award recipient.
David Faugno
CFO
David Faugno brings years of global financial and business operations experience across a number of technology sectors. He previously served as director of corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions at Cisco Systems Inc. where he supported the acquisition and integration of more than 20 companies with more than $9 billion in transaction value. Prior to that, David was CFO and vice president of operations of Actona Technologies Inc., a leading wide area storage vendor that was acquired by Cisco. He also served as CFO of Soltima Inc. a wireless infrastructure software company. In his eight years with AT&T, David held a variety of financial, sales and operations roles, including CFO of the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, in which he restructured AT&T's portfolio of investments and joint ventures in the region. David holds a B.S. in accounting from Rutgers University and an Executive MBA from Duke University.
Blair Hankins
Vice President, Engineering
Blair Hankins is responsible for leading the development of the entire line Barracuda Networks solutions. With more than 20 years of experience, Blair brings expertise in software development, technical product management and marketing. Prior to joining Barracuda Networks, Blair was senior vice president of engineering at Intellisync (acquired by Nokia) responsible for delivering wireless messaging products that offer the best possible user experience to mobile professionals. Prior to Intellisync, Blair was the vice president of engineering for Witness Systems Inc, a leading provider of workforce optimization software for call centers. As an executive at IBM, Blair was a recognized authority on Lotus messaging and application development products, and led the Lotus Notes and Domino product line. In this role, he was responsible for the market planning, business strategy, and go-to-market strategy for IBM's portfolio of messaging products including Notes, Domino, iNotes, the Lotus mobile and wireless product offerings. Blair earned a B.S. in mathematics at University of Maryland and an M.S. in mathematics from Ohio State University.
Stephen Pao
Vice President, Product Management
In his role, Stephen Pao is responsible for strategic product direction, definition and program management for all Barracuda Networks products. Steve has more than 20 years of experience in high growth technology companies based in both Seattle and the Bay Area. Prior to joining Barracuda Networks, Steve led program management and engineering efforts at All Star Directories, a leading Internet lead generation provider in Washington. Before All Star, Steve held vice president of marketing positions at AskMe Corporation, a leading enterprise knowledge management software provider, and at Latitude Communications (acquired by Cisco Systems), a leading voice and Web conferencing provider. Steve also held product management positions at Visioneer (acquired by Nuance), where he launched the award-winning PaperPort product and at Oracle Corporation where he led product management for Oracleâs line of decision support products. Steve earned his bachelorâs and masterâs degrees in electrical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Hossein Ghazizadeh
Vice President, Technical Support
As vice president of technical support Hossein Ghazizadeh leads a global team of 200 support engineers dedicated to helping customers maximize the value of their Barracuda Networks products. In his previous role as director of technical support, Hossein successfully developed the company's strategy for improving customer and partner satisfaction. Prior to joining Barracuda Networks Hossein held management positions within technical support at companies such as Savvis Communication, Cable & Wireless (formerly Exodus Communications), and National Integration Technology. Hossein earned a B.S. in electrical engineering from Northern Arizona University and an associateâs degree in computer science from CTA.
Michael Hughes
Vice President, Worldwide Sales
As vice president of worldwide sales at Barracuda Networks, Michael Hughes is responsible for the strategy and direction of global sales operations for the companyâs diverse product portfolio. Michael previously served as Barracuda Networksâ vice president of EMEA sales, where he aggressively increased sales to enterprise businesses, implemented an enhanced tiered channel program and grew revenue for the region by more than 25 percent over two quarters. Prior to joining Barracuda Networks, Michael was the vice president of sales and services for Asempra Technologies where he successfully increased quarterly sales revenue over eight quarters. Michael also served in sales executive roles at McData Corporation, significantly growing revenue while managing more than $100 million in business. Michael held executive roles at Invio Software (acquired by Symantec), and publicly-traded Marimba (acquired by BMC). Michael earned a B.S. in marketing from Miami University and an MBA from University of Michigan.
Niall King
Vice President and Managing Director, APAC
Niall King is responsible for driving sales, market strategy and channel development for the Asia Pacific region, New Zealand and Australia. He has more than 20 years of experience driving sales and marketing in Asia Pacific for companies such as Ricoh and Cacheflow. Prior to joining Barracuda Networks, Niall was the APAC director of sales for Neoteris where he developed channel sales in Japan, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and Australia and drove annual sales to nearly $3.5 million prior to Netscreenâs acquisition of Neoteris. Niall earned a B.S. in electrical engineering from Dublin City University in Dublin, Ireland.
José Luis Sanchez
Vice President of Sales, Latin America, Spain, Portugal and France
José Luis Sanchez has more than 20 years of International and domestic sales experience. In his current role at Barracuda Networks, José Luis is responsible for sales channel development in Latin America, Spain, Portugal and France. Prior to joining Barracuda Networks, José Luis was the sales director for Latin America at NetScreen. Under his leadership, the Latin America territory experienced 400 percent sales growth in a two-year time period. Previous to NetScreen, José Luis held various sales management positions at Sun Microsystems, as well as domestic sales positions at Hewlett-Packard, General Electric and IBM. José Luis received an M.S. in electrical engineering from Stanford University.