WASHINGTON, D.C. — January 14, 2026 — Virtru today announced the winners of the 2025 Virtru Vanguard Awards, recognizing customers and partners who have demonstrated exceptional innovation, leadership, and impact in advancing data-centric security and privacy.
The annual Virtru Vanguard Awards celebrate organizations and individuals who have successfully implemented Virtru’s Data Security Platform to secure sensitive data wherever it travels. The awards span multiple industries and sectors, highlighting the diverse ways security leaders are adopting a data-centric approach to meet evolving cyber needs and regulatory demands.
“The 2025 Virtru Vanguard Award winners exemplify what it means to lead with security and trust in mind,” said Matt Howard, CMO and SVP at Virtru. “These leaders and partners understand that protecting sensitive data in-motion is no longer optional—it’s foundational to mission success, business resilience, and secure collaboration. We’re proud to recognize their achievements and the meaningful impact they’re making across their respective industries.”
Customer Recipients
This category honors Virtru customers that have demonstrated exceptional security practices by effectively incorporating Virtru software. It celebrates those who have met cybersecurity challenges through innovative and strategic deployments across various departments, user groups, or locations and has achieved compliance adherence to rigorous and stringent regulatory standards.
- Education: Dennis Neil and Brian Cors, University of Michigan
- Healthcare: The Healthcare Vanguard Award recipient will remain confidential, reflecting the sensitivity of their work and privacy requirements.
- State and Local Government: Troy Richards, State of Georgia
- Federal Government: Craig Rudolph and Joe Piscuili, GDIT
- IT / Telecommunications / Manufacturing: Shaun McGraw, HII
Virtru Advocate Award
The Advocate Award recognizes a Virtru champion—someone who actively promotes data-centric security, helps others understand the value of secure data sharing, and advocates for Virtru within their organization and broader community.
- Cameron Banowsky and Bunny Banowsky, SHE BASH
Partners of the Year
Virtru also recognized partners who demonstrated exceptional performance, collaboration, and alignment with Virtru’s mission to make data protection more accessible and effective.
- Partner of the Year: GuidePoint Security
- Technology Partner of the Year: Daniel Nickolaisen, Abnormal AI
For more information about Virtru’s Data Security Platform, visit www.virtru.com.
About Virtru
Virtru empowers organizations to unlock the power of data while maintaining control wherever it's stored and shared. Trusted by over 6,000 organizations across the public and private sectors—including JPMorganChase, Equifax, Capital One, Salesforce, and the U.S. Department of Defense—Virtru’s Data Security Platform has created a new paradigm in data-centric security, where protection travels with the data itself rather than relying on traditional perimeter defenses. From global enterprises to national defense and intelligence agencies, Virtru’s award-winning solutions provide simple, powerful data-centric security, built on the Trusted Data Format (TDF), an open standard for data protection created by Virtru Co-Founder and Chief Architect Will Ackerly.
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