Mark D. McLaughlin joined as president and CEO of Palo Alto Networks in August of 2011 and became chairman of the board in 2012.
Before coming to Palo Alto Networks, McLaughlin served as president and CEO of Verisign. Prior to that, he held a number of key positions at Verisign, including chief operating officer, executive vice president of products and marketing and head of the company's naming services business. Prior to Verisign, he was the vice president of sales and business development for Signio, a leading internet payment company. Before joining Signio, he was the vice president of business development for Gemplus, the world's leading smart-card company. Previous to Gemplus, he also served as general counsel of Caere and practiced law as an attorney with Cooley Godward Kronish LLP.
McLaughlin also has the honor of providing the President of the United States with national security advice and expertise as a member of the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee, a body that for three decades has brought industry chief executives together to provide counsel on national security policy and technical issues to U.S. government leadership. McLaughlin has served two-year terms as chairman and vice chairman of NSTAC.
He received his J.D., magna cum laude, from Seattle University School of Law and his BS degree from the United States Military Academy at West Point. He served as an attack helicopter pilot in the U.S. Army and earned his Airborne Wings. McLaughlin currently serves on the board of directors for Qualcomm.
