At the forefront of the Digital Information Age evolution

Unrivaled security,
data and infrastructure
experience

Bill Conner

As founder and CEO of FWC Consulting, Bill Conner helps organizations through his expertise in cybersecurity, SaaS, data networks, M&A, marketing and sales. A corporate turnaround and cybersecurity expert, Conner has been at the forefront of the evolution of the Digital Information Age.

Knight Chess Piece

Strategic Maneuvering

Drawing from his experience with Nortel’s Enterprise Data Networks and his time in operations at AT&T, Conner was intimately involved with the Nortel Data Security startup where he completed the $9 billion acquisition of Bay Networks’ IP stack. In 1998, Conner and the Nortel Data Security management team took the security business unit through an initial public offering, creating Entrust Inc.

Prior to his appointment as President and CEO of Entrust in 2001, Conner held leadership positions on Entrust’s board and executive positions in Nortel, including Chairman of Entrust’s Board of Directors, Nortel’s first Chief Marketing Officer, President of Enterprise Data Networks, and President of Enterprise Networks and e-Business Solutions. In July 2009, Conner and his executive team took Entrust private through an acquisition by private equity firm Thoma Bravo and sold the company in 2013 to DataCard for a 6.5 times return on initial investment.

Lock

Security Advocate

A strong believer in helping consumers, enterprises and governments navigate continuous technology and legal shifts, Conner dedicates time and resources to resolving global, national, and local issues across these sectors.

Bill is regularly featured in major global publications and television programs including BBC News, Forbes, Financial Times, The Register, Security Boulevard, USA Today, The Hill, the Dallas Business Journal, and many others. He also created and hosted “Hacked” for SiriusXM’s business radio.

He has testified and served on a number of cybersecurity panels on Capitol Hill, and has been asked to leverage his experience and insights in consulting with INTERPOL, the United Nations, and NATO. “I am passionate about security and the positive impact that security has protecting people, data, information, governments and economies,” Conner told Authority Magazine.

Compass

Technology Shift

During Conner’s time at SonicWall, his growing conviction for the massive opportunity and critical need for greater internet security led him to create and productize the Capture Advanced Threat Prevention Service as SonicWall’s first cloud platform. Leveraging machine learning, this innovative sandbox service has the ability to analyze millions of suspicious files for its clients using multiple engines and real-time deep memory inspection (RTDMI) to help prevent attacks and automatically deploy remediation techniques.

At Entrust, Conner reset corporate priorities to take advantage of new market dynamics in Digital Identities and SaaS to generate organic growth. This shift began in a time when technology sectors, cybersecurity in particular, were undergoing tremendous and tumultuous change.

As mobile devices and cloud computing became drivers of organizations’ buying behavior, Conner invested heavily in technological innovations to help organizations realize the potential gains presented by these technologies. Conner expanded Entrust’s digital certificate offerings, drawing on his belief in the strength of digital certificate technology. This culminated in 2013, with Entrust organically growing cloud and software-as-a-service revenue, accounting for roughly 60 percent of product revenue, and subscription revenue providing nearly 70 percent of total revenue. Focusing on security solutions for the cloud and software-as-a-service, Entrust was one of the few software companies to successfully transition from a mainly perpetual-based model to subscription-based revenue stream.