Press Release
Thrive Appoints Kristina O’Connell as Chief Marketing Officer
Leading Global MSSP Touts Latest Executive Appointment as it Continues to Grow
Boston, MA, November 20, 2024 – Thrive, a global technology outsourcing provider for cybersecurity, Cloud, and IT managed services, today named Kristina O’Connell as its Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). With experience spanning new and growing industries, including SaaS, AI, and wireless charging, O’Connell will guide Thrive’s corporate marketing and brand building initiatives as the company continues to experience a rapid period of growth.
With over three decades of experience leading marketing teams in the technology industry, O’Connell brings an unparalleled wealth of knowledge and expertise in brand development, creative innovation, and marketing strategy. Before joining Thrive in October 2023, she led marketing at WiTricity, where she helped build and develop the market for electric vehicle wireless charging (B2B2C) from an MIT spin-out to commercialization. O’Connell served ExaGrid for a decade, defining brand and creative strategy in the Tiered Backup Storage enterprise market. At F5 Networks, she led the company’s worldwide marketing and was instrumental in helping F5 pioneer the load-balancing market from startup through IPO to #1 in global market share.
“When you hear customers saying that they’re seeing Thrive everywhere, you know your marketing team is doing something right – and that has been normal feedback we’ve heard since Kristina joined us,” said Rob Stephenson, CEO of Thrive. “Kristina’s deep understanding of not only our offerings but the cybersecurity and technology industries at large are invaluable when it comes to communicating what Thrive brings to the table. As CMO, I know she will strategically communicate our vision to the broader market and take Thrive to new heights as we innovate and expand.”
As Thrive continues to provide new services to customers and increase its geographical footprint through acquisition, O’Connell’s guidance in ensuring brand visibility and consistency across regions, growing the company’s thought leadership, influence, and raising Thrive’s overall profile amongst prospects, media, and other stakeholders will be critical. Her vast experience across technology domains, including networking, storage, enterprise software, SaaS, and AI-powered software, will help elevate Thrive’s services and key messages to new audiences.
O’Connell’s appointment comes amidst an exciting period of growth for Thrive. The company recently acquired Safety Net – its eleventh acquisition in just two years. The company also appointed Scott Steele as Chief Operating Officer in June 2024.
“When I came to Thrive, I was incredibly impressed by Thrive’s team, NextGen platform of services, the business problems we were solving for our clients, and the possibilities when it came to innovating for the future,” said O’Connell. “I look forward to working with the rest of our executive team to continue to amplify our brand, influence, culture, and excitement for how we do business. Thrive is changing the game with outsourced technology.”
If you’re interested in learning more about open positions at Thrive, visit the careers page.
About Thrive
Thrive delivers global technology outsourcing for cybersecurity, Cloud, networking, and other complex IT requirements. Thrive’s NextGen platform enables customers to increase business efficiencies through standardization, scalability, and automation, delivering oversized technology returns on investment (ROI). They accomplish this with advisory services, vCISO, vCIO, consulting, project implementation, solution architects, and a best-in-class subscription-based technology platform. Thrive delivers exceptional high-touch service through its POD approach of subject matter experts and global 24x7x365 SOC, NOC, and centralized services teams. Learn more at www.thrivenextgen.com or follow us on LinkedIn.
Contacts
Amanda Maguire