Evolution Equity Partners Holds Fourth Annual Presidents Forum for Cybersecurity Executives and Global Leaders

Former Governor and Film Star Arnold Schwarzenegger Delivers Keynote at Exclusive Event During RSA Conference Week in San Francisco; Wiz Founder & CEO Assaf Rappaport Named 2026 CEO of the Year

NEW YORK, April 9, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Evolution Equity Partners, a leader in venture capital investment in cybersecurity, held the fourth Annual Presidents Forum on March 24, 2026, in San Francisco during the week of the RSA Conference. The exclusive, invitation-only gathering brought together more than 300 Chief Information Security Officers (CISO), cybersecurity entrepreneurs, and investors to address the most urgent challenges at the intersection of geopolitics, AI, and global digital security.

Under the leadership of Founder and Managing Partner Richard Seewald, the 2026 Presidents Forum underscored a defining transformation facing the cybersecurity industry: the shift from software protection as the primary imperative to the governance and management of intelligence in an AI-driven world — a theme that resonated powerfully against the broader backdrop of RSA Conference 2026, where artificial intelligence was not merely a session track but the organizing principle of the entire event.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger Delivers Keynote

The centerpiece of the evening was a wide-ranging keynote conversation with Arnold Schwarzenegger, the legendary entrepreneur, global leader, and former 38th Governor of California. The discussion, moderated by Robert Rodriguez, Chairman and Founder of the Security Innovation Network (SINET) and Venture Partner at Syn Ventures, explored the intersection of cybersecurity and geopolitics, the responsibilities of global leaders in an era of AI-accelerated threats, and the imperative for international cooperation to safeguard critical digital infrastructure. Governor Schwarzenegger's rare combination of conviction, inspiration, and humor captivated the room — a reminder that the Presidents Forum remains the only stage in the world where global icons and the cybersecurity ecosystem converge as one.

Assaf Rappaport of Wiz Named 2026 CEO of the Year

Evolution Equity Partners was proud to award the 2026 CEO of the Year to Assaf Rappaport, Founder and CEO of Wiz (now part of Google Cloud), recognizing his exceptional leadership in building one of the most consequential cloud security companies of the modern era. Richard Seewald also conducted a fireside discussion with Yinon Costica, Founder and VP of Product at Wiz, exploring how Wiz has redefined cloud security and what the next chapter of cloud-native intelligence looks like in an AI-saturated threat landscape.

Leading Cybersecurity Innovators Take the Stage

The Forum featured presentations from a distinguished group of leading cybersecurity innovators, including Evolution portfolio company founders and CEOs at the vanguard of the industry's most critical challenges:

• Niv Braun, CEO of Noma Security, on securing AI development pipelines and the emerging risks of AI supply chains
• Yotam Segev, CEO of Cyera, on the evolution of data security in a world where AI dramatically expands the data attack surface
• Amitai Ratzon, CEO of Pentera, on continuous automated security validation as enterprises navigate AI-accelerated adversarial threats
• Matthew Moynahan, CEO of GetReal Security, on combating AI-generated disinformation and synthetic media at enterprise scale
• Galina Antova, CEO of Kai Security, on the convergence of operational technology and cyber-physical security in an AI-enabled threat environment
• Don Jeter, CMO of Torq, alongside Shaun Khalfan, CISO of PayPal, in a forward-looking conversation on how the next generation of cybersecurity marketing is reshaping how the industry communicates trust, resilience, and innovation to the enterprise

Bridging the Gap Between Policy, Geopolitics, and Innovation

Since its inception in 2023, the Presidents Forum has served as the premier platform for heads of state and global leaders to engage directly with the cybersecurity community on the world's most complex security challenges. This year's event reflected the increasingly urgent convergence of geopolitics and digital security that defined RSA Conference 2026 — an event attended by more than 44,000 professionals and defined by the industry's collective reckoning with what it means to lead security in an AI-native world.

"We are honored to welcome Governor Schwarzenegger and our exceptional community of security leaders to the fourth Presidents Forum," said Richard Seewald, Founder and Managing Partner of Evolution Equity Partners. "The 2026 Forum reflects a pivotal moment for our industry. As AI reshapes both the threat landscape and the tools we use to defend against it, the dialogue between global policymakers, enterprise security leaders, and cybersecurity innovators has never been more essential. At Evolution, we believe safeguarding our digital world requires more than capital — it requires a unified global vision, and the Presidents Forum exists to build that vision."

Commitment to Diversity in Cybersecurity

In keeping with its ongoing commitment to expanding opportunity across the security community, Dennis Smith, Richard Seewald, and Samantha Feuer of Evolution Equity Partners presented a charitable donation to Women in CyberSecurity (WiCyS) from the proceeds of the evening, reaffirming the firm's belief that a stronger and more diverse workforce is essential to building a more resilient digital future.

Looking Ahead

The themes of the 2026 Presidents Forum — agentic AI governance, the geopolitics of digital sovereignty, the rise of non-human identities, and the transition from security software to security intelligence — reflect the defining strategic priorities facing enterprise security leaders entering the second half of the decade. As AI compresses attack timelines and expands the threat surface in ways that challenge conventional security frameworks, Evolution Equity Partners remains committed to partnering with the visionaries building the next generation of cybersecurity market leaders.

About Evolution Equity Partners

Evolution Equity Partners, headquartered in New York City, partners with rapidly growing cybersecurity software companies that safeguard our digital world. The firm was founded by investor and technology entrepreneurs Richard Seewald and Dennis Smith, who manage and lead the firm. Evolution's partners have served as founders, investors, and senior operating executives in leading software companies around the world, and the firm has invested in more than sixty cybersecurity companies, building a growing portfolio of market leaders. Learn more at www.evolutionequity.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

SOURCE Evolution Equity Partners