Conversant Group Announces Leadership Transition Positioning Company for Continued Growth

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Oct 13, 2023, 17:00 ET

Changes designed to better align leadership strengths to the needs of a rapidly expanding organization

John A. Smith, Conversant founder and former CEO, assumes the title of chief security officer.
Mark Grazman, former Conversant president, moves into chief executive officer position.
Maria Chachas Mastakas, former Conversant chief of staff to Grazman, transitions to chief operating officer.

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn., Oct. 13, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Conversant Group, an innovative provider of "Secure First" infrastructure and cybersecurity services, today announced a senior leadership restructuring driven by Conversant Group's extraordinary growth. At founder John A. Smith's direction, this reorganization allows Smith to double down his focus and efforts on the vision of "Securitas Summa" (security above all else), which has led to dramatic growth, while bolstering operations and infrastructure to support that growth. As part of the restructuring, Mark Grazman has been named CEO. Grazman most recently served as Conversant's president as well as CEO of Fenix24, a Conversant Group company (or "battalion"); he will continue as CEO of Fenix24 in addition to his new leadership capacity.

"We recognize that we are in a battle every day with cyber criminals who threaten jobs and even lives… that is why we call ourselves the world's first civilian cybersecurity force," said Smith. "I am so excited to have more opportunity and time to tell the world and develop tactics and strategize on exactly how companies can protect themselves from these criminals. At the same time, our dedication to fighting threat actors has led to tremendous growth, and this change will better allow us to build the infrastructure and operational capacity to continue that growth. As a technical leader engaged in breach recovery for more than 10 years and security and infrastructure for more than 30, this change will allow me to focus more of my efforts on developing defensive strategies and tactics, which has been and is my true passion. This is the right time to transition the Conversant CEO role to Mark, who has demonstrated to me and our team that he is the right leader to continue and accelerate the organizational execution required to bring effective defensive strategies, which I have been and will continue to be at the center of, to more companies globally. I have great confidence in Maria as well, and together, they will provide the operational focus we require at this stage of growth."

In addition to being founder, Smith assumes the role of CSO of Conversant Group and its three battalions. He founded Conversant Group in 2009, driving the company to its position as one of the top cybersecurity services providers in North America in multiple categories including assessments, remediation and restoration. The realignment is a direct response to rapid growth; it is designed to allow Smith to focus on the companies' defensive and offensive technological excellence and continued evangelism and education of the business community, while enabling the organization to tap into Grazman's leadership skills, including negotiating strong partnerships, expanding the business infrastructure, and leading increasingly global teams through the stages of rapid growth.

Since Grazman joined Smith's leadership team as President in March 2021, the organization has grown its revenue and team by more than 300% and launched Fenix24 as the leading ransomware restoration incident response provider. Prior to joining Conversant Group, Grazman was CEO of email security company MessageControl (where he led the company through a successful exit to Mimecast) and senior vice president of CBZ, an NYSE-listed professional services firm. Grazman has helped launch and lead multiple venture capital funds, including Banque National de Paris' Emerging Markets Private Equity Division and the Israeli high-tech fund, Omega.

Maria Chachas Mastakas, former chief of staff to the president, has been named COO of Conversant Group and its battalions to provide further leadership expertise on operational excellence. Prior to joining Conversant Group, Mastakas was COO for Cymulate, a security posture management platform, and chief revenue officer of Digital Shadows, a security threat intelligence company. She has also had extensive experience as a senior technology sales and operations executive, driving sales effectiveness and results.

About Conversant Group

Conversant Group is changing the IT services paradigm with our relentless focus on "Secure First" managed services, IT infrastructure and consulting. Conversant has been a thought leader for over 14 years helping over 500 customers and entire industries get answers to the security questions they may not even know to ask. We are the world's first civilian cybersecurity force, with three time-tested battalions:

Fenix24 / Ransomware rapid response, remediation and recovery
Athena7 / IT security assessments, strategy and planning
Grypho5 / Ongoing, security-based management
Learn more at ConversantGroup.com.

Media Contact:

Lindsay Smith
[email protected]

SOURCE Conversant Group