Dive Brief:
- Okta announced Monday it hired Mark Settle as the company's first-ever CIO.
- Okta, a provider of identity and device management for the cloud and mobile enterprise, was launched in 2009, but has operated without a CIO until now.
- Gartner has named Okta a leader in its Magic Quadrant for Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS), for the last three years in a row. Some of its major customers include Dish Network, MGM Resorts and Adobe.
Dive Insight:
It’s not clear who has handled typical CIO responsibilities at Okta before, but COO and co-founder Frederic Kerrest said in a blog that Settle will be tasked with moving the company’s IT "beyond a utility, ultimately providing tangible business value to our organization."
Kerrest added that Okta customers are asking to replace Active Directory with a more flexible and collaborative solution and that Settle will work to help customers, offering best practices for running an enterprise without AD.
Finally, Kerrest said Settle will ensure Okta’s employees have "streamlined access to the most important technologies and services to increase business efficiency," according to the company’s press release.
Settle is a seven-time CIO that previously worked at organizations such as IHS, BMC, Oxy, Arrow Electronics and VISA.
