The Company Will Scale Operations with a U.S. Secret Service Veteran and Industry Experts to Meet Surging Demand for Digital Executive Protection

Orlando, FL – March 3, 2026 – BlackCloak, a pioneer in Digital Executive Protection (DEP) for corporate executives, boards of directors, and Family Offices, announced the strategic expansion of its senior leadership team to accelerate product innovation and strengthen its presence in executive protection and its alliance partnerships.   

BlackCloak has tapped Jeff Putz as Vice President of Engineering, Hazel Cerra as Director of Digital Security Convergence, and Chris Hamilton as Managing Director of Alliances. These professionals bring specialized expertise spanning decades of scaling B2B and consumer software, 25 years in the U.S. Secret Service, and high-level networking within the risk management ecosystem, solidifying BlackCloak as the gold standard for protecting the personal digital lives of the world’s most targeted individuals.

Jeff Putz, a seasoned software engineering expert with experience in B2B and B2C environments, is BlackCloak’s new Vice President of Engineering. Additionally, Hazel Cerra, a nationally recognized executive protection and cybersecurity leader with a distinguished career with the United States Secret Service, joins as BlackCloak’s Director of Digital Security Convergence. Christopher Hamilton, a veteran business development leader in high-growth companies at the intersection of Risk Management, Wealth Management, and Digital Assets, joins as BlackCloak’s Managing Director of Alliances. 

In their respective roles, Putz, Cerra, and Hamilton will contribute to BlackCloak’s rapid growth and continued market leadership in Digital Executive Protection, enhancing the value of the company’s specialist cybersecurity technology, expertise, and concierge support for BlackCloak members.

“We are immensely proud to have Jeff, Hazel, and Chris join our team. Their combined experience in cybersecurity and protection, business development, software engineering, and customer experiences will enhance the value and experience for BlackCloak members as we enter our next stage of expansion,” said Dr. Chris Pierson, Founder and CEO of BlackCloak. “With BlackCloak’s ongoing momentum and innovative DEP advancements, the skills and expertise of such an elite group of leaders will be essential to further our mission of safeguarding our clients’ personal digital lives.”

Jeff Putz: Scaling Meaningful Customer Experiences

Putz has more than 25 years of experience in software engineering leadership roles, most recently at True Fit, Yottaa, and Hydrow. At True Fit, he built and scaled the company’s AI-native personalization platform to 250+ top-tier retailers and 250 million users, and at Yottaa, he led multiple departments driving the development of the company’s security and acceleration platform. At Hydrow, he scaled the engineering team to deliver a superior experience to the company’s more than 200,000 members while delivering new, high-impact experiences.

At BlackCloak, Putz oversees the strategy and architecture of the DEP Platform, including the mobile app and all technical capabilities that will deliver value across the client landscape. “Technology is evolving quickly on the threat side, and I’m excited to help our concierge team scale while delivering highly personalized services to enrich our members’ digital safety,” he said. “Joining BlackCloak’s executive team is an incredible opportunity to continue to build software that positively impacts the lives of enterprises and individuals.”

Hazel Cerra: An Expert in Sophisticated Cyber Threats

With more than 25 years as a cybersecurity leader with the U.S. Secret Service, Cerra most recently served as Resident Agent in Charge of the Atlantic City Resident Office, where she led protective intelligence operations, complex financial crime investigations, and strategic partnerships with federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies. Throughout her career, she held senior supervisory roles in cyber fraud investigations and previously served on the protective detail of President William J. Clinton, supporting global security operations associated with the Clinton Global Initiative. She is recognized for translating presidential-level protection principles into scalable security frameworks that protect senior executives, families, and enterprise leaders in an increasingly complex threat environment, and is a Certified Information Security Manager through ISACA.

In her role as Director of Digital Security Convergence at BlackCloak, Cerra is responsible for building relationships with executive protection firms and those protecting high-profile individuals and their families. “BlackCloak sets the standard for DEP, and I’m excited to help bring our comprehensive protection to targeted high-net-worth individuals and their families,” she said.

Christopher Hamilton: A Proven Track Record Based on Trust

Hamilton brings more than 20 years of experience in building strategic partnerships, managing complex risk, and developing growth strategies to BlackCloak, having held leadership roles at companies such as Aura, HQ Digital, and Digital Currency Group. Having spent most of his career in the Risk Management sector, working in cross-border geopolitics, private client risk, and leading risk for a wealth management platform, he has a proven track record of driving meaningful revenue growth and has built a robust network of trusted relationships that spans risk, wealth, and high-net-worth private client services.

In his role as BlackCloak’s Managing Director of Alliances, Hamilton is building strategic partnerships with companies seeking to provide BlackCloak’s leading DEP offerings to C-Suite executives and board members of Fortune 1000 companies. Similarly, to work with trusted advisors, including private banks, Family Offices, wealth management, and private client law firms, to deliver DEP to their high-profile and high-net-worth clients. “My career expertise is in fostering relationships built on trust and best practices, an approach that strongly aligns with BlackCloak’s approach to DEP. I’m beyond excited to join this incredible team,” he said.

For more information about BlackCloak’s Digital Executive Protection services, visit blackcloak.io. 

 

About BlackCloak

BlackCloak protects corporate executives, board members, high-profile individuals, and their families from privacy, financial, and other reputational risks. Used by Fortune 500 companies across all industries, the BlackCloak Concierge Cybersecurity & Privacy™ Platform is a comprehensive solution that includes mobile and desktop apps, as well as concierge support. Executives and high-profile individuals gain complete peace of mind knowing their family, reputation, and finances are secured. Companies rest assured that their brand, intellectual property, data, and finances are protected against threats from executives without invading their personal lives. Learn more at www.blackcloak.io and follow us on LinkedIn.

Media Contact
Beth Trier
Trier & Co. for BlackCloak
[email protected]

Key Takeaways:

• Exceptional Financial Performance: Nearly doubled its year-over-year Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR), exceeding annual revenue targets while maintaining high customer retention.

• Rapid Scale and Expansion: More than doubled the global team and solidified partnerships with industry leaders, including WWT and PwC.

• Client Growth: BlackCloak protects the senior leadership and 300+ board members for 26% of the Fortune 100

• Strategic Market Analytics: Gartner® November 2025 report establishes Digital Executive Protection (DEP) as a critical requirement for modern enterprise cybersecurity strategies.

• Recognized Excellence: Recognized by numerous prestigious awards, including placements on the Deloitte Technology Fast 500™, the Inc. 5000, and the SINET16 Innovator Awards.

 

Orlando, FL – February 17, 2026 – BlackCloak, pioneer of Digital Executive Protection (DEP) for corporate executives, boards of directors, and family offices, announced today significant corporate momentum, signaling a market shift where DEP is now recognized as a critical, “must-have” component of strategic enterprise cybersecurity. 

This momentum is underscored by BlackCloak’s record-breaking fiscal year. The company nearly doubled its year-over-year Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR), exceeding internal revenue goals and reflecting that forward-thinking enterprises now consider DEP a non-negotiable pillar of corporate resilience. BlackCloak removes the burden from internal security teams of having to simultaneously protect the personal privacy, devices, and homes of senior leaders, preventing them from compromising the corporate perimeter. Combined with the market shifts, this value proposition has accelerated BlackCloak as the leader in this category. 

BlackCloak research highlights the harsh reality that as corporate perimeters harden, the high visibility of executives’ personal digital lives has become the primary soft target for threat actors seeking an entry point into the enterprise. 

• The Targeted Executive: C-suite executives are now 12 times more likely to be targeted in cyberattacks than any other employee.
• The Family Entry Point: Over 50% of organizations believe it is highly likely that an executive’s partner or child will be the entry point for a targeted campaign.
• Widespread Vulnerability: 87% of new clients had no security on their personal mobile devices or tablets prior to onboarding with BlackCloak.
• Deep Web Exposure: 10 out of 10 client households were found to have exposed passwords on the dark web during their initial assessment.
• Hidden Compromise: 39% of corporate executives were found to have active malware on their personal devices or wide-open home networks before securing them with BlackCloak. 

In addition to its financial milestones, BlackCloak more than doubled its headcount while maintaining industry-leading customer retention rates. This growth is bolstered by strategic partnerships with global industry leaders, including WWT and PwC, further expanding the reach of its concierge-style DEP offerings.

“We continue to witness a profound surge in sophisticated, personal attacks targeting leaders exactly where they are most vulnerable – outside the corporate firewall,” said Dr. Chris Pierson, Founder and CEO of BlackCloak. “As the attack surface expands to include home networks, personal devices, and even family members, the risk to individuals and the enterprise has never been higher. Our momentum underscores a fundamental shift in the industry: organizations now recognize that a holistic Digital Executive Protection strategy is the only way to safeguard their executives, protect their families, and ultimately defend the corporation’s integrity from these pervasive and highly targeted threats.”

Industry Validation of Concierge-style DEP

The Identity Theft Resource Center® (ITRC)’s “2025 Annual Data Breach Report,” released in January 2026, summarizes the rapidly evolving problem of personal data breaches: “We have moved beyond an era of simple identity theft into a State of More. More attacks that are more precise, more automated and more difficult to detect.” The report also reveals that “data breaches are a near-universal experience for consumers, with 80 percent of respondents having received a data breach notice in the past 12 months; nearly 40 percent of people responding to the survey received 3-5 separate notices in the past year. A staggering 88 percent of people who received a data breach notice experienced at least one negative consequence after a breach, including an increase in “phishing” or scam attempts (53.7%), an increase in spam emails or robocalls (49.2%), and attempted takeover of an existing account (40.3%).”¹

A recent Gartner report, Navigate Executive Protection Solutions for Digital Threat Defense,² notes, “Adversaries are increasingly targeting executives in the cyber and physical realm, driving greater urgency for organizations to develop more robust cybersecurity strategies to protect their greatest asset — people.”

Gartner further highlighted the value of specialized vendors, stating, “Concierge-style executive protection service providers often have a more concierge-type service where the provider will engage more directly with the executive instead of the security team. Specialized executive protection vendors extend their scope of executive protection to include home network scanning, penetration testing for home offices, and personal mobile device monitoring. There are benefits to these types of concierge-style service engagement, such as offering more privacy for executives.”

Industry Firsts and Awards

BlackCloak continues to lead through innovation, having launched the industry’s first DEP Framework and DEP Resource Center. To date, the DEP Framework has been downloaded more than 700 times, providing CISOs with a standardized roadmap for implementing executive protection.

The company’s excellence has been recognized with many prestigious industry awards over the past year, including:

• The 2025 Deloitte Technology Fast 500™
• The 2025 Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing private companies
• 2025 Inc. Best Workplaces
• 2025 SINET16 Innovator Award
• 2025 SC Award for Best Customer Service

“I am immensely proud of our team’s growth and innovative contributions to the industry, providing comprehensive defense for those in the crosshairs of advanced threats,” said Dr. Pierson. “As enterprises and high-profile executives face increasingly sophisticated threats, BlackCloak is committed to hardening the personal digital footprints of the world’s most targeted individuals and providing holistic Digital Executive Protection that safeguards executives and their families.”

For more information about BlackCloak’s Digital Executive Protection solution, visit blackcloak.io. 

 

About BlackCloak

BlackCloak protects corporate executives, board members, high-profile individuals and their families from cybersecurity, privacy, financial, and other reputational risks. Used by Fortune 500 companies across all industries, the BlackCloak Concierge Cybersecurity & Privacy Platform is a comprehensive solution that includes mobile and desktop apps, as well as concierge support. Executives and high-profile individuals gain complete peace of mind knowing their family, reputation, and finances are secured. Companies rest assured that their brand, intellectual property, data, and finances are protected against threats from executives without invading their personal lives. Learn more at www.blackcloak.io and follow us on LinkedIn.

 

Media Contact
Beth Trier
Trier & Co. for BlackCloak
[email protected]

¹https://www.idtheftcenter.org/post/2025-annual-data-breach-report-record-number-compromises/
²Gartner – Navigate Executive Protection Solutions for Digital Threat Defense by By: Elizabeth Kim, Mitchell Schneider, November 3, 2025.

GARTNER is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates.