ESET Announces Richard Marko as the New CEO
- Category: News
- Created on 2011-01-12
ESET spol. s.r.o. introduced changes in top management positions. The company’s owners Miroslav Trnka, Rudolf Hrubý, Maroš Grund and Anton Zajac will be succeeded by Richard Marko, the company's co-owner and previously the company‘s Chief Technological Officer.
“This step comes as part of ESET’s re-organization. The present owners, with the exception of Richard Marko, are stepping down from the operative management, without an effect on the company ownership structure,” announced Miroslav Trnka, the outgoing ESET CEO. He added: “I am not pulling out of ESET completely, as I will retain my position on the company’s board, where I will have an influence on the strategic decisions with regard of the company’s future.”
Rudolf Hrubý, the company’s Chief Financial Officer has announced his departure and will be succeeded by Milan Masaryk. Also, Andrew Lee will become the new CEO of ESET North America branch office, reporting directly to Richard Marko and taking over the position from Anton Zajac. In the company’s HQ in Bratislava, Pavol Luka will assume the post of CTO (the post formerly held by Richard Marko). Juraj Malcho will succeed Maroš Grund as Chief Research Officer. Additionally, a newly created position of director of global sales and marketing will be headed by Ignacio Sbampato, who has thus far held the post of director at the Latin American office in Buenos Aires.
The designated CEO, Richard Marko has outlined his vision for the future as follows: “Ever since we started in this business more than two decades ago, the focus remains on producing a high grade of technology. I intend to continue in this vein as CEO of ESET.”
Miroslav Trnka, together with Peter Paško, programmed the antivirus software NOD back in 1987. Five years later, in 1992, they formerly founded ESET with a mutual friend Rudolf Hrubý. Starting in 1998, ESET is the holder of a long streak of positive ratings by Virus Bulletin, an independent AV industry periodical. In 1999, ESET branched out to Califiornia, opening a branch office in San Diego and continues to build a global distribution network.
Short CVs of new ESET management
Richard Marko
ESET CEO
Richard Marko is a graduate of Information Systems Department, Slovak Technical University in Košice (1996). He began his career in ESET during his college studies and is one of the co-authors of the ESET NOD32 antivirus system and its scanning engine. Initially, he held the post of the main architect of the scanning core, in 2008 becoming the technology director. His works on subjects of antivirus were published extensively at home and abroad. He has given lectures on heuristic algorithms at conferences, like Virus Bulletin or AVAR.
Andrew Lee
CEO of North America branch of ESET in San Diego
Andrew Lee is a graduate of University of Liverpool (information security). Until 2008, he held the post of technology research director in the North-America branch of ESET in San Diego. Then, he has worked for 2 years at K7, an India-based AV manufacturer. He is one of the founding members of AV information systems AVIEN and AVIEWS, as well as a reporter of WildList.
Pavol Luka
ESET CTO
Pavol Luka is a graduate of the Department of Electro-technical Engineering and Information Systems, Slovak Technical University. He began his career at ESET already as a student, becoming full-time employee in 1999. As a programmer, he has participated in the development of second- and third- generation of ESET security solutions. Later, he became the head of one of ESET research divisions. In 2008, he was named to the position of IT Director, responsible for infrastructure and development.
Juraj Malcho
Chief Research Officer
Juraj Malcho worked for ESET as the chief of Virus Lab, starting at the company as a Virus Researcher responsible for threat detection and research in 2004. Malcho is a graduate of informatics at the Slovak Technical University in Bratislava. He presented and lectured at many information security conferences including those of Virus Bulletin and ISOI.
Ignacio Sbampato
Director for Global Sales and Marketing
Ignacio Sbampato joined ESET as Vice President for Latin America in 2004 for developing the company’s Latin American market. He was responsible of developing ESET channel network in the region, creating brand awareness and establishing ESET’s presence in the major Latin American markets by creating local offices and teams. Since 2010 he has been CEO of ESET Latin America, ESET’s Buenos Aires-based subsidiary.
Milan Masaryk
ESET CFO
Milan Masaryk is graduate of Economy, University of Economics Sciences Dept. He has held a position of the head of Information Information network in a state enterprise. After the revolution in 1989, he began a private business in offering complex services in economic consulting. He has cooperated with ESET founders before the company’s establishment. Since 2007, he has held the position of main economics director and deputy financial director at ESET.
