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Vincent Merlin Joins Forcepoint as Chief Marketing Officer
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Forcepoint has appointed Vincent Merlin as Chief Marketing Officer, adding experienced cybersecurity marketing leadership as the company continues building its position around AI security and control.
Merlin joins Forcepoint following nearly a decade in senior marketing leadership roles at Proofpoint, where he most recently helped lead the company's AI-led transformation across its marketing and inside sales organizations during a period in which the business grew its annual recurring revenue fivefold.
Bringing Cybersecurity Growth Experience to Forcepoint
As Chief Marketing Officer, Vincent will lead Forcepoint's global marketing organization, with a focus on strengthening the company's category position, accelerating growth and helping customers understand the business value of maintaining control over AI.
His background includes building new categories and scaling global go-to-market engines in fast-moving technology markets. His experience at Proofpoint gives him a strong understanding of the cybersecurity landscape and the evolving challenges enterprises face as AI becomes increasingly embedded across business operations.
Leading Marketing Through the AI Shift
Vincent's appointment comes as AI creates a new set of challenges for security leaders. Organizations are adopting AI at increasing speed while also confronting questions around visibility, governance, data protection and control.
Forcepoint is positioning itself around this emerging challenge, arguing that the organizations that succeed in the AI era will be those capable of maintaining control as AI becomes more deeply integrated into their operations.
Ryan Windham, CEO of Forcepoint, highlighted Vincent's global go-to-market experience and his ability to help customers and partners understand what effective AI control can enable.
Building on Proofpoint's Growth Journey
Vincent spent roughly a decade at Proofpoint, holding senior marketing leadership positions as the company expanded its cybersecurity business.
His most recent work involved spearheading an AI-led transformation across marketing and inside sales, alongside significant growth in the company's recurring revenue base.
That combination of category creation, go-to-market leadership and AI transformation experience will be central to his mandate at Forcepoint as the company looks to strengthen its market presence.
Looking Ahead
The appointment adds a senior cybersecurity marketing executive with direct experience navigating both rapid technology change and large-scale business growth.
At Forcepoint, Vincent will focus on translating the company's AI security proposition into a stronger market narrative while supporting customers and partners navigating the increasingly complex relationship between AI adoption, security and organizational control.
About Forcepoint
Forcepoint is a cybersecurity company focused on helping organizations protect data and control risk across users, applications, devices and emerging AI environments. The company provides security solutions designed to help enterprises maintain visibility and control as technology and work environments evolve.