Dive Brief:

• Software and cybersecurity industry veteran Andrew Casey will serve as CFO for cloud security provider Lacework, the company announced in a press release Thursday.
• Casey’s experience bringing his previous firm public and in enterprise tech finance will be brought to bear at Lacework, according to the release. 
•  "Andrew brings deep financial and operational understanding as he has helped build multiple outstanding companies through high growth," Jay Parikh, CEO of Lacework, said in a statement. "This breadth of experience will be critical not only for helping to lead Lacework through our next phase of growth, but also in building strong partnerships with our customers who are increasingly viewing cybersecurity as a board-level financial imperative."

Dive Insight:

The company floated its future plans to potentially go public last year, when then-CEO of Lacework David Hatfield noted to Reuters that the company was exploring several measures to do so, including a traditional initial public offering (IPO) or direct listing. The announcement came following the close of Lacework’s most recent funding round in November of last year, according to a Reuters report that month.  

Lacework’s valuation reached $8.3 billion following the addition of a $1.3 billion funding round last November, per Reuters. Participants in the round included Tiger Global Management and Sutter Hill Ventures, among others.

The company has not yet announced a time for a potential IPO or other plans to become public. Hatfield served briefly as co-CEO alongside current chief executive Parikh, a prior Facebook, now Meta executive who joined the company in July 2021, according to Lacework. Hatfield currently serves as a member of the firm’s board of directors, per his LinkedIn.

Lacework offers solutions including a cloud-native application protection application (CNAPP) solution, offering security for data businesses store in the cloud, according to the company’s website.

Financial leaders themselves are also taking on “an increasingly larger role in influencing and prioritizing cybersecurity decisions,” Casey said as part of a statement included in the Thursday announcement.

Cybersecurity has risen on CFOs’ priority list, with 35% of financial executives saying this was their top concern according to a recent survey by Jefferson Wells. It is crucial for the CFOs — as well as the rest of the C-Suite — to have a “solid understanding of the risks” when it comes to cybersecurity, Michelle Search, national practice leader, finance and accounting for Jefferson Wells previously told CFO Dive.  

Prior to joining Lacework, Casey served as CFO for software provider WalkMe for over two years beginning in March 2020, according to his LinkedIn profile. The San Francisco, Calif.-based company went public in June 2021 under Casey’s leadership in a $287 million IPO, according to a June 2021 report by Bloomberg.

WalkMe announced Casey’s departure from the company in September, noting its former CFO would be leaving to “pursue another opportunity” and would remain with the firm for the close of its third quarter earnings, according to the announcement. The firm’s former VP of finance, Hagit Ynon, is serving as interim CFO as WalkMe conducts a formal search for a permanent CFO.

Casey has also executive finance positions for IT cloud company ServiceNow, Hewlett-Packard, and the Oracle Corporation, according to his LinkedIn.

Lacework did not immediately respond to requests for comment.