illusive networks Hires Palo Alto, Cisco Alum as First Channel Chief

**Editor’s Note: Click here to see which channel people were on the move in December.**

Security provider illusive networks, which bills itself as the pioneer of “deception technology,” on Thursday said that it has hired industry veteran Tracy Pallas to lead its new 100 percent channel sales strategy.

As vice president of global channel sales, Pallas will focus on launching a partner program, selecting and signing strategic go-to-market partners globally, and building marketing programs around channel demand generation.

Pallas’ hiring follows a $22 million Series B funding round in October led by National Enterprise Associates, four months after a $5 million Series A funding led by Team8.

“We are focusing on the channel this early in our company’s history because we believe partners play a critical role as trusted advisors in helping customers to define and implement their security strategies,” said Shlomo Touboul, illusive networks’ CEO. “With Tracy Pallas at the channel’s helm, we have an industry veteran who has repeatedly built successful channel programs that drive increased partner productivity and accelerated revenue growth globally.”{ad}

Previously, Pallas served as senior director of Americas channel at Extreme Networks, where she doubled channel team investment and implemented a coverage model to increase the company’s top partners’ productivity by 15 percent in six months. Before that, she was vice president of Americas channels at Palo Alto Networks, where she grew the channel by 60 percent annually.

Her security background also includes roles with Cisco, IronPort Systems, Counterpane Internet Security and Internet Security Systems.

“At illusive networks, the channel is the core strategy for revenue and scale,” Pallas said. “illusive networks’ technology represents a huge advance in cybersecurity. All facets of the company, including enablement, marketing, operations and sales, will be developed and supported based on the critical role we are asking partners to play. The focus for the next 12 months will be evangelizing illusive’s go-to-market channel strategy and launching a channel program centered around profitability to ensure a high level of mindshare and execution from our channel partners — all of which will accelerate our growth.”

illusive networks technology is deployed at financial institutions, insurance providers, retailers, law firms, health care providers, energy and telecommunication companies. The company has headquarters in New York and Israel.