---
title: Virtru Announces Vanguard Award Winners, Recognized for Cybersecurity Innovation and Leadership
description: Virtru announces the winners of the 2024 Vanguard Awards, celebrating excellence and innovation in cybersecurity across various sectors, including finance, healthcare, and education.
image: https://www.virtru.com/hubfs/24-Vanguard-Award-Social1000x600.jpg
---

December 12, 2024

# Virtru Announces Vanguard Award Winners, Recognized for Cybersecurity Innovation and Leadership

![Editorial Team](https://www.virtru.com/hubfs/assets/images/logos/virtru/logomark/blue/virtru_LOGOMARKMASTER_BLUE_FINAL.svg)

By Editorial Team

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![{ content.featured_image.alt }}](https://www.virtru.com/hubfs/24-Vanguard-Award-Social1000x600.jpg)

**Winners Include Security Leaders at Verizon, Recorded Future, and Capital One**

**WASHINGTON, Dec. 12, 2024 –** Virtru today announced the winners of its annual Virtru Vanguard Awards, which celebrate innovation and leadership in data protection, privacy and sovereignty. 

The Virtru Vanguard Awards honor Virtru customers and partners who have demonstrated outstanding achievements in cybersecurity, from forward-thinking security practices to strategic deployments. The awards span industries and categories, reflecting Virtru’s broad customer base — from the federal government to healthcare, telecommunications, and global finance.

“The winners of the Virtru Vanguard Awards are at the cutting edge of their respective fields,” said Virtru CMO and SVP Matt Howard. “These cybersecurity leaders know that secure collaboration is essential — not just to our business success, but also to our economic and physical security. On behalf of the Virtru team, I commend these security leaders for their tenacity as they fight against cyber threats day in and day out, protecting secure collaboration and safeguarding sensitive information everywhere it’s shared.”

## 2024 Virtru Vanguard Award Winners - Customers

The Virtru Vanguard Awards honor customers or organizations that have demonstrated exceptional security practices. It celebrates those who have met cybersecurity challenges through innovative and strategic deployments of data-centric security, encryption, and access control across various departments, user groups, or locations, and have achieved compliance by adhering to rigorous and stringent regulatory standards. Virtru Vanguard Award winners are distinguished for setting industry benchmarks in data protection and excellence.

- **Virtru Vanguard Award  - Finance: ***Maddy Pet, Capital One *
- **Virtru Vanguard Award  - Education: ***Bryan Thompson, Success Academy Charter Schools  *
- **Virtru Vanguard Award  - Healthcare: ***Ash Shehata, AHMC *
- **Virtru Vanguard Award  - State and Local Government: ***David Castleberry, Arkansas Game & Fish Commission *
- **Virtru Vanguard Award - Federal Government: ***Brad Walton, Project Asimov, Australian Defence Force *
- **Virtru Vanguard Award - IT and Telecommunications: ***Russell Leader, Verizon *
- **Virtru Advocate: ***Roderick Chambers and Jason Steer, Recorded Future *

## 2024 Virtru Vanguard Award Winners - Partners

- **Platinum Partner of the Year: **66degrees
- **Gold Partner of the Year: **Umzuzu* *
- **Premier Partner of the Year: **NTT Data* *
- **Emerging Partner of the Year: **CDW* *
- **Virtru Partner Sales MVP: **Tom Brod, Trace3 * *
- **Virtru Channel MVP:** Caitlin Witry, CDW* *

 

To learn more about Virtru’s data-centric security solutions, visit [the Virtru website](https://www.virtru.com/). To read Virtru’s customer stories, visit the [Virtru Resource Library](https://www.virtru.com/resource).

![Editorial Team](https://www.virtru.com/hubfs/assets/images/logos/virtru/logomark/blue/virtru_LOGOMARKMASTER_BLUE_FINAL.svg)

### Editorial Team

The editorial team consists of Virtru brand experts, content editors, and vetted field authorities. We ensure quality, accuracy, and integrity through robust editorial oversight, review, and optimization of content from trusted sources, including use of generative AI tools.

[View more posts by Editorial Team](https://www.virtru.com/newsroom/author/editorial-team)

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