Our vision is a world
where each day is safer
and more secure than
the one before

Nikesh Arora joined as chairman and CEO of Palo Alto Networks in June 2018. Before joining Palo Alto Networks, Nikesh served as president and chief operating officer of SoftBank Group Corp. Prior to that, he held a number of positions at Google, Inc. during a 10-year span, including senior vice president and chief business officer, president of global sales operations and business development, and president of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Prior to joining Google, Nikesh held the role of chief marketing officer for the T-Mobile International Division of Deutsche Telekom AG. He was chief executive officer and founder of T-Motion PLC, which merged with T-Mobile International in 2002.

Nikesh serves on the board of Compagnie Financière Richemont S.A., a public Switzerland-based luxury goods holding company, and Tipping Point, a non-profit organization that fights poverty in the Bay Area. Previously, he served on the boards of SoftBank Group Corp., Sprint Corp., Colgate-Palmolive Inc. and Yahoo! Japan, among others. He holds an M.S. in Business Administration from Northeastern University, an M.S. in finance from Boston College and a B. Tech. in electrical engineering from the Institute of Technology at Banaras Hindu University.

BJ joined Palo Alto Networks in August 2021. As president, BJ oversees the company’s go-to-market functions, including sales, support, consulting, business development and operations, and partnerships.

Previously, BJ served as president and CEO of Barracuda Networks, leading the company’s IPO on the New York Stock Exchange, as well as the strategic acquisitions of SignNow, Intronis, Sonian and PhishLine. Prior to joining Barracuda, BJ held multiple business unit and sales and marketing leadership roles at EMC, including president of EMC’s Backup Recovery Systems (BRS) Division.

BJ earned an engineering degree from the University of Illinois and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Karim Temsamani joined Palo Alto Networks in September 2024. As President, Next Generation Security, Karim leads GTM programs and global sales for the company's cloud security, security operations and network security platforms.

Karim has spent his career building and scaling global businesses. Previously, he served as CEO of Cardlytics, a digital advertising platform widely used in the banking industry. Prior to Cardlytics, Karim led product and engineering for Stripe's banking and financial products. He also spent 12 years at Google, where he oversaw sales and operations across the AsiaPacific region and established Google's successful mobile advertising business.

Karim began his career in the media and publishing industries and earned a degree in International Affairs at the European Business School Paris.

Nir Zuk brings a wealth of network security expertise and industry experience to Palo Alto Networks. Prior to co-founding Palo Alto Networks, Nir was CTO at NetScreen Technologies, which was acquired by Juniper Networks in 2004. Prior to NetScreen, Nir was co-founder and CTO at OneSecure, a pioneer in intrusion prevention and detection appliances. Nir was also a principal engineer at Check Point Software Technologies, and was one of the developers of stateful inspection technology.

Since early product inception in 2006, Lee Klarich has served as the head of product management at Palo Alto Networks, overseeing the product strategy and roadmap and playing a key role in delivering our Next-Generation Security Platform. In August 2017, he became chief product officer with responsibility for both engineering and product management for the company.

Prior to Palo Alto Networks, he was the director of product management for Juniper Networks, where he was responsible for firewall/VPN platforms and software. He joined Juniper Networks through the NetScreen Technologies acquisition, where he managed the same product line. Previously, he held various positions at Excite@Home and Packard Bell-NEC. He holds a bachelor's degree in engineering from Cornell University.

As CEO for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and Latin America (LATAM), Helmut is responsible for all go-to-market functions across EMEA and LATAM. Prior to joining Palo Alto Networks in 2022, Helmut was CEO of Orange Business Services (OBS), leading its global organization of 28,000 employees and supporting the digital transformation of enterprise customers around the world. Prior to OBS, Helmut held leadership positions across Europe at Avaya Inc., NextiraOne Germany and Alcatel Austria.

Helmut holds a Ph.D. from Vienna University for Economics and Business (WU), and speaks English, French, German and Spanish.

Dipak Golechha joined Palo Alto Networks in 2020 and serves as chief financial officer.

A seasoned finance leader, prior to Palo Alto Networks, Golechha held a variety of global leadership and executive roles around the globe. During 18 years at Procter & Gamble, he served as global divisional CFO and chief operating officer. Following that, he was the CFO for Chobani and the CFO at The Nature’s Bounty Company, a $3 billion+ CPG company focused on health and wellness.

Golechha also served four years as CEO of Excelligence Learning Corp, a tech-enabled education company.

Golechha previously served as a board member of Holland & Barrett International, Dr Organic, and Procter & Gamble Financial Services. He holds both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in economics from St. John’s College, Cambridge University, UK.

Bruce Byrd is the Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Palo Alto Networks. In that role, he is responsible, globally, for legal affairs, policy and government affairs, corporate governance, compliance, and risk and resilience. He joined the company in January 2021.

Before joining Palo Alto Networks in January 2021, Bruce was the Chief Legal Officer of AT&T Communications, responsible for legal affairs at AT&T’s largest operating company. There, he led a team of over 300 lawyers and managed the full range of legal disciplines.

Prior to AT&T, Bruce was a partner at Dickinson Wright PLLC, where he maintained an active commercial litigation, regulatory and class action defense practice.

Bruce is committed to community service, particularly in the realm of inclusion and diversity. He is the chair of the board of directors of the Institute for Inclusion in the Legal Profession and serves on the board of the International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution.

Bruce graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in economics and received his J.D., cum laude, from the University of Michigan Law School.

Aimee Hoyt joined Palo Alto Networks in January 2024 as the Chief People Officer. Her day to day responsibilities are fueled by her commitment to creating an incredible employee experience that supports accelerated business growth.

Aimee was no stranger to high growth companies and being part of industry-leading businesses. She has over 15 years of prior executive experience at companies like Hewlett-Packard, Cisco, Rackspace, and Illumina. She is known for spurring business growth through workforce transformation, cultivating inclusive cultures, and enabling individual learning and growth. Aimee believes in the power of supporting each employee as an individual and helping them deliver the best work of their career in an environment where every person can feel they belong and can thrive.

Aimee earned a master’s in human resource development from the Rochester Institute of Technology.

Kelly Waldher is Chief Marketing Officer for Palo Alto Networks. He is responsible for the transformation and scale of the company's go-to-market initiatives, establishing Palo Alto Networks as the foremost authority in AI and cybersecurity. By leading the company’s global marketing efforts, Kelly aims to position Palo Alto Networks as the go-to platform for cutting-edge, AI-powered security solutions.

Kelly is a tenured marketing executive with a diverse background spanning top tech companies. Prior to joining Palo Alto Networks, he served as the CMO at Zendesk, where he led marketing, communications and sales development teams and was the General Manager of the online business segment. As the Vice President for Google Workspace, he oversaw global marketing functions, including brand management, product marketing, demand generation, growth strategies, and analyst relations. Kelly served as Executive Vice President and General Manager at Qualtrics, and 14 years at Microsoft, as General Manager of Microsoft 365 and Teams, driving global product marketing efforts.

Kelly holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from Washington State University.

As Chief Information Officer, Meerah is responsible for Palo Alto Networks’ global information technology functions, driving a comprehensive strategy to scale and rapidly deliver innovative solutions for our worldwide teams.

Prior to joining Palo Alto Networks in 2022, Meerah was CIO at Citrix and held past leadership roles at McAfee, Forcepoint, Cisco and Infosys. Meerah deeply understands the IT challenges across the industry, among organizations of all sizes.

Meerah holds a Bachelor’s in Computer Science & Engineering from the Thiagarajar College of Engineering at Anna University in Chennai, India. She also holds a Master’s of Business Administration from the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, California.