New Company
KnowBe4
New Position
Senior vice president of cyber operations
New Company Website
Former Company
Central Intelligence Agency
Former Position
Technical intelligence officer
KnowBe4, the provider of the world’s largest security awareness and simulated phishing platform, today announced that Rosa Smothers, former technical intelligence officer for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), has joined the company. In this role, Ms. Smothers will lead KnowBe4's Federal Practice efforts, with primary responsibility for providing cybersecurity advisory services to civilian and military agencies within the federal government. “Rosa’s wealth of knowledge on the inner workings of the U.S. government will be immensely helpful in getting more government agencies prepared to face cyberattacks associated with social engineering by providing them with new-school security awareness training and simulated phishing,” said Stu Sjouwerman, CEO, KnowBe4. “She is a seasoned CIA officer with expertise in cybersecurity and cyber operations. Rosa is definitely the caliber of professional that you want on your team. She makes a great addition to the stellar team we’re building at KnowBe4.” Ms. Smothers said: “I couldn’t think of a better place to transition out of the CIA than to a fun, mission-driven cybersecurity organization like KnowBe4. The culture, people and mission of the organization inspire me. This new role allows me to continue to pursue my passion of securing our nation’s cyber infrastructure. We often think about technical solutions such as hardware and software to secure our networks; however, the human factor is often overlooked. That’s why I am very much looking forward to helping spread the word about the increasing need for security awareness training that really works.” With over a decade of experience in the CIA, Ms. Smothers is a highly decorated national security professional with extensive experience leading the adoption of cutting-edge computer technology, serving as a cybersecurity analyst and technical intelligence officer on multiple overseas tours, in support of the President, National Security Council and other U.S. policymakers. She holds a B.A. in Information Studies from Florida State University and an M.S. in Computer Network Security from Capitol Technology University.
