In March, cybersecurity leader SilverSky appointed Cary Conrad as its new chief executive officer, with former CEO Richard Donbrow becoming chairman of the board. As SilverSky’s former president, Conrad was also an original founder of the organization that eventually became SilverSky and played a key role in developing its MxDR platform and strengthening the company’s position in compliance-driven markets. Now, under Conrad’s leadership, SilverSky is entering its next phase of growth. In this interview, Conrad discusses his company’s core priorities and continued commitment to the channel. ChannelVision: Tell us about the buzz around managed detection and response (MxDR) at the RSA Conference in San Francisco. What trends did you observe? Cary Conrad: From what we learned, there’s a strong desire to reduce noise. Security teams want fewer alerts that lead nowhere. The volume and velocity of data is what companies need help managing, and they’re engaging with us for guidance. At the same time, there is a growing need for true AI-integration with MxDR. Many organizations are offering platforms that are AI-directed but not necessarily AI-driven. We believe our mature, AI-driven systems and advanced analytics are a major differentiator in today’s crowded market, and we’re excited to continue investing in them and making them even more accessible and effective. CV: As CEO, what are your top priorities over the next 12 to 24 months? CC: Right now, we’re investing heavily in customer service and satisfaction. We already perform very well in this area, especially given our industry-leading retention rates. However, we see an opportunity to go even further. Our goal is to ensure customers understand that when they encounter a potential threat, they can immediately connect with a knowledgeable team member for support. If it’s a real issue, we’ll resolve it quickly. If it’s not, we’ll take steps to reduce unnecessary alerts and prevent future distractions. That level of responsiveness and confidence is critical to building longterm loyalty and supporting sustainable growth. It ultimately comes down to executing the fundamentals at a high level: answering quickly, communicating clearly and prioritizing what matters. CV: How will you ensure SilverSky remains aligned with changing compliance demands? CC: Looking ahead, the next major frontier is AI compliance — being able to answer critical questions around where sensitive data is being exposed, how employees are using AI tools and what third-party agents or models are interacting with their environments. These challenges are rapidly becoming central to risk and governance. As a result, we’re investing in solutions that provide greater visibility and control around AI usage — areas where we’ll be well positioned to deliver meaningful outcomes for customers. CV: How do partners fit into your growth strategy? What’s your vision for SilverSky’s channel program? CC: Partners should know two things: First, that we consistently deliver on what we promise, and they can build long-term, recurring revenue with us. We’ve always been 100 percent channel-focused, and that’s not changing. It’s a model we understand and one we’ll continue to invest in. We’re also expanding how partners integrate with our data. Many of our partners are building their own customer-facing dashboards, but the real challenge is organizing the underlying data and turning it into actionable insights. We’ve done the hard work of structuring that data and making it meaningful. Now we’re extending that capability via API and enabling partners to integrate our data and back-office systems directly into their own dashboards. We’re already doing this with a number of partners, and we see a big opportunity to expand it further. We have a tremendous, experienced go-to-market leadership team with vast amounts of experience and success in the channel. Bruce Wirt at the executive level has been a major boost for our brand recognition in the channel; on the channel leadership side, John Britton has built a great team and has his finger on the pulse of what our partners desire from us. o Stop by booth 2155 at Channel Partners in Las Vegas to meet with the SilverSky team. SilverSky’s Cary Conrad CYBER PATROL Q&A with New SilverSky CEO Cary Conrad 30 CHANNELVISION | SPRING 2026
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