Technology >> CEO Interviews >> November 2, 2003
F. WILLIAM CONNER is Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of
Entrust, Inc. Mr. Conner is among the most experienced security and
infrastructure executives worldwide, with a career that spans more than
20 years across numerous high-tech industries. As a corporate turnaround
and cyber security expert, Mr. Conner has achieved a number of
milestones since he joined Entrust as President and CEO in April 2001.
He immediately reset the company's priorities, changing the business
model by realigning the organizational structure and products to focus
on extended governments, and Global 1000 extended enterprises. These
moves have helped Entrust regain competitiveness as a world leader in
identity and access management solutions. Under Mr. Conner's leadership,
the company has delivered more new product, capabilities and solutions
than in any period in the company's history, while also creating an
industry-leading service and support organization. All of these
accomplishments took place as Mr. Conner decreased the company's total
expenses by over 55% and returned the company to profitability. In 2003,
he received the Corporate CEO Award as part of the annual Tech Titans
Award program. Most recently, he has been a leader in the effort to
elevate information security to a corporate governance issue and fashion
a public-private partnership to protect America's critical
infrastructure. He launched and co-chaired the Business Software
Alliance Information Security Governance Task Force, which released a
security management framework in April 2003. He was a driving force
behind the EastWest Institute Worldwide Security Forum, which hosted an
international dialogue on these issues in November 2003. And he co-
chairs the Department of Homeland Security Corporate Governance Task
Force, which held its first meeting at the National Cyber Summit in
December 2003. The DHS task force has embraced the information security
governance framework released through the BSA. Mr. Conner's work in
driving information security governance and other security initiatives
within the US federal government, put him in position to be named to the
Federal 100 ' a list of the top executives from government, industry and
academia who had the greatest impact on the government information
systems community in 2003. Before he joined Entrust, he held various
senior executive positions at Nortel Networks, including President of
Nortel Enterprise Networks and e-Business Solutions. Mr. Conner also
served as President of Nortel's first Enterprise Data Networks line of
business. In addition, he served as Nortel Networks' first Chief
Marketing Officer. He previously served on the Boards of Travelocity,
Williams Communications and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Conner
graduated from Princeton University with a Bachelor's degree in
Mechanical Engineering. He also earned a Master's degree in Business
Administration from the Wharton School of the University of
Pennsylvania. Profile
and a picture of the company as it is now?
Mr. Conner: The company was spun out from Nortel and went public in
