Mindgard Expands Leadership with Aaron Portnoy and Tom Axbey

Updated on

July 22, 2025

Mindgard Expands Leadership with Offensive Security Expert Aaron Portnoy and GTM Veteran Tom Axbey

We are excited to welcome two strategic leadership additions to strengthen our R&D and GTM capabilities. Renowned security researcher Aaron Portnoy joins as Head of Research & Innovation, while SaaS veteran Tom Axbey joins the Board of Directors.

Fergal Glynn

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Key Takeaways

Aaron Portnoy joins as Head of Research & Innovation, bringing 20+ years of offensive security leadership across startups and global tech
Tom Axbey joins Mindgard’s Board, adding decades of enterprise SaaS and GTM expertise from IBM, CloudHealth, and VMware
These strategic hires strengthen Mindgard’s ability to operationalize adversarial research and drive AI security adoption within the enterprise

Mindgard, the leading provider of offensive security testing for AI systems, today announced two strategic leadership additions to strengthen its R&D and GTM capabilities. Renowned security researcher Aaron Portnoy joins as Head of Research & Innovation, while SaaS veteran Tom Axbey joins the Board of Directors. Together, they bring world-class expertise in adversarial research and enterprise software to accelerate Mindgard’s next stage of growth. Portnoy will lead applied research and innovation activities, helping to advance product development. Axbey will help guide the company’s growth strategy as it expands its go-to-market operations.

Aaron Portnoy ran the Zero Day Initiative at TippingPoint/3Com (later Hewlett-Packard and now part of Trend Micro), where he was the architect and judge of the first six competitions of Pwn2Own, a premier hacking event that awards prizes for demonstrating zero-day exploits. He co-founded Exodus Intelligence, a market-defining exploit-intelligence firm, and built Randori's security R&D program prior to its acquisition by IBM. His career also spans leadership roles at Raytheon and most recently as the inaugural Hacker Fellow at Dartmouth College, advancing interdisciplinary cybersecurity research.

Aaron Portnoy, Head of Research & Innovation at Mindgard, said: “AI security is still in its infancy. As these systems become core to business operations, adversaries will increasingly target them in ways organizations aren’t prepared for. At Mindgard, we’re applying the offensive techniques that have protected applications for decades to defend AI from the ground up.”

Tom Axbey brings more than 20 years of enterprise software and SaaS leadership to Mindgard’s Board. He most recently served as CEO of CloudHealth, where he led the company to market leadership with over 12,000 customers, and later as General Manager at VMware following its acquisition of CloudHealth. Previously, he was CEO of Rave Mobile Safety and earlier in his career, Tom held executive roles at IBM, Micromuse, Quallaby, and American Internet Corporation—all of which contributed to his reputation for scaling operations and delivering operational excellence.

Tom Axbey, member of Mindgard’s Board of Directors, said:
“I’m proud to join this exceptional team and visionary investors to bring offensive security for AI to the enterprise. Mindgard’s approach solves a critical and rapidly growing problem, and I’m excited to help scale the company to meet market demand.”

Note: Aaron Portnoy (along with co-founders Peter Garraghan and Steve Street) will be available for meetings at Black Hat USA, August 2-5. For more details, visit: https://mindgard.ai/black-hat-usa-2025

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