Biography

Director since: 2025

Principal Occupation: 
Corporate Director

Relevant Expertise

• SaaS company leader. Mr. Willy served as CEO of New Relic, Inc., a SaaS company that delivers a software platform for customers to collect telemetry data and derive insights from that data in an AI unified front end application.  In that role, he was responsible for leading the company into the future in support of its customers, users, and their success.
• Broad leadership experience. Mr. Willy has significant leadership experience in sales, channel development, engineering, product management, customer success, and worldwide go-to-market strategy across global markets. As CEO of Proofpoint, he directed a global workforce of over 4,000 employees focused on defending organizations from advanced threats and compliance risks by protecting their people, and in turn, safeguarding their data, business, and reputation.
• Cybersecurity and cloud responsibilities. Before serving as Proofpoint’s CEO, he was General Manager of Security Product and Services Group. In this role, he was responsible for the strategy, research and development, and go-to-market of Proofpoint's cloud-based core product lines including email, threat intelligence and detection, authentication, and response. Additionally, he was responsible for Premium and Professional Services across all product lines.

Business Experience Highlights

• CEO, New Relic, Inc. (2023 – 2026)
• Various leadership roles, Proofpoint, Inc. (2016 – 2023)
  • CEO (2022 – 2023)
  • Executive Vice President, General Manager, Security Product and Services Group (2020 – 2022)
  • Senior Vice President, Global Customer Success and Worldwide Systems Engineering (2016 – 2020)
• Various leadership roles, Polycom (2012 – 2016)
  • SVP, Chief Product Officer & Strategic Alliances (2013 – 2016)
  • Vice President, Worldwide Systems Engineering (2012 – 2013)
• Vice President, Systems Engineers, Worldwide Business, Juniper Networks (2011 – 2012)
• Various roles, Cisco (1996 – 2011)