Opal Security, a leader in modern access governance and identity security, has appointed industry veteran Howard Ting as its new Chief Executive Officer. Ting’s appointment comes at a pivotal moment as enterprises rapidly adopt AI agents, intensifying the complexity and critical need for unified security controls across both human and machine identities.
Howard Ting appointed as new CEO of Opal Security, replacing the company's founder.
Ting joins after a successful tenure as CEO of Cyberhaven and has held executive roles at Palo Alto Networks, Nutanix, and Redis.
The leadership change addresses the critical shift in access governance driven by the explosion of AI agents and services.
Opal provides a unified control plane for identity security, automating least-privilege access across complex environments.
The company is trusted by innovators like Cloudflare, Databricks, and Figma and has raised $32M in funding.
Ting’s mandate is to scale operations and expand platform capabilities to meet growing global demand for AI-native security.
Ting’s appointment signals Opal Security’s strategic focus on scaling its platform to address the urgent security challenges created by AI adoption. As AI agents and automated workflows become commonplace, managing access and enforcing least-privilege security across both human and non-human identities has become a top priority for modern enterprises. Opal’s platform is designed to provide the centralized visibility and automated controls needed for this new environment.
Howard Ting commented on the opportunity, stating, “Identity has always been and will continue to be the dominant failure mode of every cybersecurity program, and Opal has built one of the most forward-leaning platforms in the industry. The team’s focus on usability, automation, and deep security context uniquely positions Opal to solve the biggest challenge every enterprise faces as they rapidly adopt AI.”
Ting brings over two decades of experience scaling iconic cybersecurity and enterprise software companies. His executive roles at Redis, Nutanix, and Palo Alto Networks, coupled with his recent leadership at Cyberhaven, provide a proven track record of driving growth and category transformation. His expertise in building global teams and scaling go-to-market operations is expected to accelerate Opal Security’s expansion.
Saam Motamedi, General Partner at Greylock Partners, an Opal investor, noted, “Howard has a remarkable track record of scaling cybersecurity and enterprise infrastructure companies into category leaders and in multiple cases independent public companies. Howard is a natural leader and his depth of experience across identity, security, and cloud makes him the perfect addition.”
The market demand for Opal’s solutions is underscored by the escalating identity-driven threats in dynamic, AI-augmented environments. Investors and customers recognize that legacy identity governance and administration (IGA) tools are insufficient for managing access at the speed and scale required today. Opal’s AI-native platform aims to provide real-time, intelligent control.
Dharmesh Thakker, General Partner at Battery Ventures, said, “It’s clear that Opal is in a very dynamic and ascendant category. AI-driven companies are scaling faster than ever, intensifying the need for rigorous, unified access governance across humans, services, and AI agents. Howard is the ideal leader to guide Opal Security through this next phase.”
With Ting at the helm, Opal Security is poised to strengthen its platform capabilities, deepen customer partnerships, and scale its operations globally. Ting will also join the company's board of directors, guiding its strategy to secure every identity in an increasingly autonomous digital world.
About Opal Security
Opal Security is the leader in AI-native security for every identity. Its authorization reasoning platform empowers security teams to reduce risk at scale by providing real-time visibility, prioritized insights, and frictionless control across human and non-human identities. At its core is an intelligent data layer that continuously surfaces and contextualizes the most critical risks. Unlike legacy IGA or workflow tools, Opal gives security teams read-write authority to remediate exposures directly. As environments grow more dynamic and autonomous, Opal becomes a self-improving system that ensures resilience and the ability to move faster without increasing risk. Customers including Cloudflare, Databricks, Elastic, Figma, Grammarly, Scale AI, and Verily trust Opal to help secure their most important assets. Based in New York City and San Francisco, the company is backed by Greylock, Battery Ventures, Box Group, SVCI, and prominent cybersecurity industry leaders.
TechIntelPro empowers B2B technology decision-makers with the latest industry trends, deep insights, leadership perspectives and actionable intelligence to drive both organizational and professional milestones—and thrive on the tech pulse.