Rick Nee Joins Alcatraz AI’s Executive Team as Chief Revenue Officer to Scale Company to Meet the Growing Demands in Security Market

CUPERTINO, CA – Jan 14, 2025 – Alcatraz AI, a global provider of frictionless, AI-powered biometric access control solutions revolutionizing security through facial authentication, announced today the appointment of Rick Nee as the company’s new Chief Revenue Officer (CRO). Joining at a key time for company growth in parallel with the increasing demands for solutions in the security market, Nee brings with him vast experience in developing and scaling successful go-to-market teams. With over 15 years of sales experience, Nee joins Alcatraz AI to execute the company’s sales strategy at a momentous time for industry opportunity and growth. Nee’s data center expertise will be paramount as Alcatraz AI expands its leading presence in this sector for biometric access control in 2025.

Nee is an experienced security sales executive and data-driven leader with a proven track record of driving revenue growth through strategic leadership efforts and market strategies. With an extensive background of unique leadership experiences in both the military and market sales environments, Nee is well-versed in leading under pressure and directing teams with collaboration and motivation to meet objectives. 

Nee’s interest in security and technology developed during his time as a Marine Corps Infantry Officer, where he used security as his foundation in leading teams and was inspired to pursue a career to apply these lessons on a broader scale. Nee returned to school to earn his MBA at Syracuse University and kick-started his career, earning experience scaling operations in large enterprises and navigating the fast-paced demand of startups with his sales approach.

He came to Alcatraz AI, most recently from Authentic8, where he held the position of Head of Sales. With Authentic8, Nee grew the company’s go-to-market team more than tenfold across four functions, joined early stage and doubled the annual recurring revenue (ARR) to nearly $50M, and secured partnerships with over 500 government and enterprise customers. He also utilized data-driven analytics to make informed decisions while leading his team in addressing pressing security challenges, including insider threats, executive protection, fraud prevention, and election security.

With Alcatraz AI, Nee will serve as the company’s primary sales leader. Nee will play an important role in building and empowering the sales team, expanding Alcatraz AI’s market presence, and fostering strong relationships with the company’s partners and customers. With a focus on market trends, Nee will contribute to Alcatraz AI’s success in key verticals, including data centers, hyperscalers, financial institutions, critical infrastructure, higher education facilities, and more. 

“We’re honored to welcome Rick to our expanding executive leadership team at Alcatraz AI and to have him join our sales department. As the industry continues to grow, Rick will be a valuable asset in helping Alcatraz AI achieve impactful results,” said Tina D’Agostin, CEO of Alcatraz AI. “His strong sales growth track record, cybersecurity background, and ability to build powerhouse teams will be key in helping Alcatraz AI broaden its efforts to keep individuals and enterprises safer as technology continues to evolve.” 

“I’m excited to become a key member of the Alcatraz AI executive team and to contribute to the company’s commitment to innovation, security, and privacy in a growing industry,” said Nee. “As the security industry advances with the emergence of new technologies, policies, and security threats, I’m eager to help grow Alcatraz AI’s sales efforts and accelerate the adoption of their access control solutions across diverse industries. I look forward to working with the team to deliver exceptional value to our customers through seamless integration that meets the highest privacy and security standards.”

About Alcatraz AI

Alcatraz AI  is the most secure, private, and frictionless biometric solution for access control in the physical world. With its patented technology, Alcatraz AI’s facial authentication and intelligent tailgating detection platform work natively with all access control systems to transform the security experience. As the pioneer of Facial-Authentication-as-a-Service (FAaaS), Alcatraz AI has made biometric access available to all enterprises, ensuring the safety of more than one million employees at Fortune 500 companies. Trusted by Data Centers, Life Sciences, Financial Institutions, Higher Education, Airports, Stadiums and Arenas, Telecom, and Critical Infrastructure entities, Alcatraz AI sets the global standard for access control credentialing. For more information, please visit www.alcatraz.ai and follow @alcatrazai on X and Alcatraz on LinkedIn.

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