Gregory Webb named Chief Executive Officer at HITRUST

Gregory Webb has been appointed Chief Executive Officer at HITRUST, succeeding founder Daniel S. Nutkis, who will transition to Executive Chairman.

Webb brings over two decades of experience in cybersecurity and compliance leadership to the company. Most recently, he served as Chief Executive Officer and Board Chairman at AppViewX and has held leadership roles at Venafi, which was acquired by CyberArk, and Bromium, acquired by HP. Webb holds a PhD from UCLA and was a Fulbright Scholar at Stockholm University.

Leadership transition

Nutkis, who founded HITRUST in 2007, will remain actively involved as Executive Chairman, focusing on market strategy, research, and guiding innovation. HITRUST stated that customers, partners, and assessors would see no changes to existing programmes or support during this leadership change.

"HITRUST has defined the gold standard for modern security assurance. We remain committed to delivering the industry's leading framework portfolio - integrating threat-adaptive assessments with operational tools to drive efficiency, reduce risk, and simplify programmes. I'm thrilled to welcome Gregory, whose leadership and operational expertise will advance our mission for customers, assessors, and partners," said Nutkis. 

The company emphasised that the change in executive leadership aims to strengthen HITRUST's commitment to advancing cybersecurity and risk assurance, with a focus on continuity and ongoing support for stakeholders.

Webb's background

Webb's appointment marks a new phase for the company, with leadership citing his extensive cybersecurity and business-to-business software experience as key to supporting HITRUST's growth. His previous industry roles include time as CEO and Board Chairman at AppViewX, and leadership posts at Venafi and Bromium. Throughout his career, Webb has been involved in go-to-market strategies, customer success, and engineering in cybersecurity and information technology.

Webb's educational background includes earning a PhD from UCLA and being named a Fulbright Scholar at Stockholm University.

"I'm honoured to join HITRUST. With cyber threats evolving rapidly, organisations need adaptive, certifiable assurance. HITRUST is uniquely positioned as a neutral, credible standards-setter. We will ensure continuity for our stakeholders while expanding HITRUST's leadership in cybersecurity and TPRM, " said Webb. 

Ongoing priorities

HITRUST stated that Webb's focus as Chief Executive Officer will include industry engagement, market expansion, and accelerating adoption of HITRUST's core assurance and Third-Party Risk Management offerings. The company highlighted its programme as the only proven approach consistently reducing cyber and information risk.

Since its founding, HITRUST has developed risk management and compliance frameworks, integrating more than 60 standards and frameworks. Its certification programmes are designed to apply and validate security, privacy, and artificial intelligence controls. HITRUST partners with over 100 independent assessment firms and maintains a cloud-based software platform to support its processes.

As Executive Chairman, Nutkis will continue to contribute to the organisation's direction, market engagement, and research, supporting product and service innovation while ensuring that existing programmes continue unaffected by the leadership transition.

HITRUST described the appointment as part of a broader leadership evolution and reaffirmed its commitment to information security assurance and risk management for customers, partners, and assessors.