Online authentication network Identrus has appointed former Apple and Pepsi CEO John Scully as chairman and expanded its management team as it rolls out a new corporate strategy and revamped brand.
The makeover comes seven months after Identrus secured $20 million in a series b funding round led by California-based Enterprise Partners Venture Capital and New York's Rho Ventures. The funding has enabled the group to dilute the influence of banking shareholders and extend its reach to new vertical markets in the public and prviate sector.
As part of the revamp the company has unveiled a new corporate name - IdenTrust - and beefed up its board and executive management team. At the board level, John Sculley - currently a venture partner at Rho Capital - joins as chairman of the board and is accompanied by former Motorola president and CEO Jean Lavigne, who will extend the IdenTrust presence in Europe. At the executive management level, the new additions are former Tacit Software CFO Thomas Ream as chief operating officer and Andrea Klein as chief marketing officer. Prior to IdenTrust, Klein was the vice president of Oracle’s financial services industry strategy.
IdenTrust CEO Karen Wendel comments: "The extensive industry experience and expertise that Andrea and Tom bring to the table will be invaluable to IdenTrust as we extend our product offerings across the corporate, financial services and government fronts, and as we provide trusted identities for every aspect of e-transactions."
IdenTrust has already moved to extend its services to new corporate markets through its alliance with treasury standards-setter Twist. One specific proof of concept simplifies the highly regulated process of bank account opening and bank signatory management, allowing corporate treasurers to use a single identity across multiple banks.
Recently, Twist announced the incorporation of identity validation rules in its open standards portfolio based on the IdenTrust rule set.