Cequence Security announced that Russ Schafer, former Executive Vice President of Marketing at Fortinet, has joined as Chief Marketing Officer and will report to CEO Ameya Talwalkar. Schafer joins as Cequence builds on major customer wins, expands its Agentic AI security solutions, and gains industry recognition.
Schafer brings more than 25 years of marketing leadership at billion-dollar companies and high-growth startups across cybersecurity, SaaS, enterprise software, semiconductors, and media. He has led global teams of 200+ professionals and managed budgets exceeding $300M, generating billions in pipeline. As CMO at Cequence, he leads corporate marketing, product marketing, demand generation, field marketing, analyst relations, and creative services
“Enterprise leaders are just beginning to realize the sheer scale of the AI agent security and governance challenge,” said Ameya Talwalkar, co-founder and CEO of Cequence. “Because AI agents rely on the very APIs Cequence already protects, we are uniquely positioned to give enterprises complete visibility and real-time control and governance of AI agents. Russ brings the strategic vision and proven marketing playbook to drive awareness, build pipeline, and establish Cequence as a leader in agentic AI security.”
“Cequence is solving the exact agentic AI security challenges that enterprise leaders are just beginning to discover,” said Russ Schafer, Chief Marketing Officer, Cequence. “Cequence’s proven heritage in stopping bot and API abuse, combined with breakthrough innovations like Agent Trust and full-lifecycle AI governance, uniquely positions us to lead this market. I’m thrilled to join the team and empower enterprises to adopt AI agents with complete confidence and control.”
Prior to joining Cequence, Schafer served as Executive Vice President of Marketing at Fortinet, driving global demand across a portfolio of 60+ network, cloud, and AI security products—experience that directly aligns with Cequence’s platform expansion. Schafer is a recognized thought leader and featured event speaker who presented on Agentic AI for Coordinated and Unified Cybersecurity Defense at RSAC 2026. He previously headed product marketing and analyst relations at Check Point Software and served as SVP & GM of Technology at THX. Earlier, he served as VP of Product Marketing at Adap.tv (acquired by AOL for $405M) and held senior leadership roles at Intel, IBM, Sybase, and Yahoo!. He holds an MBA from Duke University and a BBA from Texas A&M University.
