Sumit Dhawan

Sumit Dhawan serves as Chief Executive Officer of Proofpoint, leading a global workforce of over 4,500 employees focused on defending organizations from advanced cyber threats and compliance risks. Growing up in Delhi and learning the value of hard work and ownership, Dhawan brings over 25 years of experience in building category-leading, scaled enterprise software companies and businesses. He also serves as Board of Director of Moody's.

Dhawan holds an MBA from the Warrington College of Business at the University of Florida, an MS in Computer Science from the University of Minnesota, and a BS in Computer Science from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). He is passionate about building diverse teams and fostering inclusive cultures and equitable environments that bring out the best in everyone.

Career History

• Chief Executive Officer, Proofpoint (November 2023–present)
• President, VMware (June 2021–November 2023)
• Chief Customer Officer, VMware (February 2020–May 2021)
• Chief Executive Officer, Instart (May 2018–February 2020)
• Senior Vice President and General Manager, VMware End User Computing

At VMware, Dhawan was responsible for driving over $13 billion of revenue and his leadership of go-to-market functions resulted in over 100% ARR growth since 2021. His career began at Citrix Systems in various roles, culminating as Group VP & General Manager, where significant advancements in enterprise mobility were made.

What Sumit Dhawan could bring to CEO at Proofpoint: Drawing on nearly three decades of building scaled enterprise software businesses and his demonstrated track record driving $13B+ revenue operations at VMware, Dhawan brings deep expertise in go-to-market strategy, customer success, and organizational scaling to Proofpoint's mission of protecting enterprises from cyber threats.