Artico Search Recruits CISO for Xactly
October 18, 2023 – Increasingly, organizations of all sizes are awakening to the perils posed by cyberattacks. For years, many groups tried to ignore the problem, dismissing cybersecurity as a concern only for the biggest, most high-profile entities, be they government or corporate. These days, more groups are coming to understand how ruinous such intrusions could be. This has led to a dramatic rise in the demand for cybersecurity executives and search firms in this sector continuing to grow. Mercedes Chatfield-Taylor, Matt Comyns, and Steve Martano of Artico Search assisted in the recruitment of Matthew Sharpe as the new chief information security officer of Xactly in Los Gatos, CA.
Mr. Sharpe brings over 15 years of experience in cybersecurity, cloud, and business alignment to accelerate growth and resilience. He is co-author of The CISO Evolution, a practical guide for cybersecurity leaders to communicate effectively with senior management and boards. Mr. Sharpe is also co-founder of a cybersecurity consulting firm and a venture advisor at YL Ventures, where he helps early-stage startups scale and succeed in the market.
Mr. Sharpe has track record of building trust and collaboration among stakeholders, establishing and enhancing cybersecurity programs, and delivering tangible business outcomes. He has background in cybersecurity operations, sales, consulting, and management.
Xactly’s AI-powered intelligent revenue platform gives revenue operations teams the data they need to power sales leaders. The platform marries artificial intelligence and 17 years of proprietary data in easy-to-use applications.
Related: The Hunt for Cyber Technology Leaders Heats Up as Risks Multiply
With offices in San Francisco, New York, and Austin, TX, Artico is off to one of the fastest starts among boutique search firms in recent memory. Ms. Chatfield-Taylor co-founded Artico with Mr. Comyns, a cybersecurity leadership expert, to lead the firm’s rapidly expanding growth executive search team. Given the billions of dollars flowing into venture capital and private equity investments these days, as well as the ever-present threat of cybersecurity breaches, the founders expect big growth acceleration ahead. Ms. Chatfield-Taylor has completed over 75 CEO searches as well as partner, principal, and other CXO level assignments.
Proven Search Consultants
Ms. Chatfield-Taylor’s team focuses on executive-level search for scale-up venture capital and private equity-backed technology companies. The team has deep expertise in global enterprise software, data and consumer internet businesses. Ms. Chatfield-Taylor is deeply passionate about the importance of diversifying the industry, with a full 53 percent of her placements tracked since 2019 being underrepresented executives.
Compensation for Cybersecurity Leaders is on the Rise
The CISO role was partially shielded from the macroeconomic challenges of 2023. The average increase in total compensation among CISOs was 11 percent in the latest comp cycle—a drop from 14 percent in 2022, but a relatively small dip in light of the economic climate. One in five CISOs didn’t receive an increase in compensation. IANS Research and Artico Search jointly fielded the fourth annual Compensation and Budget survey. Between April and August 2023, we received compensation data from more than 600 CISOs in the U.S. and Canada.
The sample has strong representation from firms in eight industries—finance, tech, healthcare, manufacturing, retail, consumer goods and services, business services, and legal—with varying ownership structures including privately owned, publicly listed firms and quasi-government entities. Their revenues range from less than $100 million to more than $150 billion. This report combines survey data with insights from executives at Artico Search, in particular Matt Comyns, co-founder and president, and Steve Martano, partner in Artico’s cyber practice. “Many companies that invested in security heavily in 2021 and 2022 are scaling back in 2023,” Mr. Comyns said.
Mr. Comyns co-founded Artico to lead the team helping companies protect against cyberwarfare. He built the original cybersecurity search practices at two global firms – Russell Reynolds Associates and Caldwell – filling more than 300 executive level searches in a hyper-competitive market by serving as a trusted advisor for chief information security officers. Mr. Comyns has developed his vast network as founding CEO and sales executive at tech and media companies in New York, San Francisco, and Beijing.
As a partner on Artico’s cybersecurity team, Mr. Martano is an expert in security executive compensation and leads Artico’s annual CISO compensation and budget survey. Prior to Artico, he was a consultant with Caldwell Partner’s cybersecurity practice and Russell Reynolds Associates.
Related: Demand for Cybersecurity Talent Sets Salaries Soaring
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; and Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
