Silent Circle today announced that its Board of Directors has appointed F. William “Bill” Conner as Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Directors effective immediately. As CEO of Silent Circle, Conner also joins the Board of Directors of Blackphone.
Conner is one of the most experienced security, telecom and infrastructure executives having served more than 30 years in the industries. Before joining Silent Circle, Conner served as the founder and CEO of FWC Consulting where he helped organizations leverage his expertise in cybersecurity, SaaS, data networks, M&A, marketing and sales.
“We’re absolutely delighted to have someone of Bill’s pedigree join us”, said Mike Janke, Silent Circle co-founder, who will now assume the position of Chairman of the Board. “Bill brings a wealth of experience and has been a vanguard of three of the Digital Information Age’s most transformational technology shifts, having led key divisions at AT&T, taken Nortel into data with the acquisition of Bay Networks which was critical to repositioning the company in the industry and worked to secure digital identities with Entrust. Bill is the perfect CEO to lead us during this time of massive revenue, personnel and product growth, as we transition from a start-up to a global corporation with revenues in the hundreds-of-millions of dollars – and with operations and employees all over the world.”
“Silent Circle is experiencing unprecedented levels of growth, in particular through the privacy-first Blackphone,” said Ross Perot Jr., the chairman of The Perot Companies and an investor in Silent Circle. “Bill’s appointment brings significant leadership, business acumen and experience across all of the industries that converge within Silent Circle – data, carrier and security. He is well positioned to guide the company through its next, exciting chapter.”
“Silent Circle has brought tremendous disruption to the mobile industry and created a dominant line of secure enterprise and consumer communications products that are challenging the status quo,” said Sir Peter Bonfield, former CEO and Chairman of the executive committee of British Telecom and who serves on the Silent Circle Board of Advisors.
“I am honored and excited to be asked to lead Silent Circle and join the Board of Directors for Silent Circle and Blackphone, “ said Bill Conner, Silent Circle CEO. “As the reality of the digital revolution takes place, digital privacy and security have become the number one priority for today’s enterprises, consumers and governments. Silent Circle and Blackphone have squarely positioned themselves as the leader in the digital vortex of privacy, security and communications.”
