Former Netflix executive joins the human transformation platform to lead information security during the company’s explosive global growth.
SAN FRANCISCO – BetterUp, the inventor of virtual professional coaching and global leader in mental fitness for the enterprise, today announced that Bryan Payne, PhD, will join the company as Chief Information Security Officer.
Dr. Payne will continue BetterUp’s commitment to best-in-class data protection and security. The newly created role will also oversee all aspects of information security for BetterUp including product and enterprise security, customer trust, compliance, and overall cyber risk management. This builds on BetterUp’s existing security program, which is already in compliance with GDPR, CCPA, and SOC 2.
“From day one, trust and data security have been at the core of everything we’ve built at BetterUp. That’s been a critical linchpin in our pursuit to create tools that harness cutting-edge technology and product innovation – grounded in research and science – to support individuals and organizations to thrive,” said Alexi Robichaux, CEO and co-founder of BetterUp. “The security of our users has been integral to the deeply-rooted trust BetterUp has built over the years. We are incredibly excited to bring Dr. Payne and his exceptional expertise in security scaling to BetterUp, especially as we continue to support more and more members across the world through their transformation journeys.”
Payne has focused his entire career on computer security and data privacy, most recently at Netflix where he served as Engineering Director, Product and Application Security. During his tenure, he led the organization’s pioneering global scalable programs that covered product security for all software created at the company, customer fraud and abuse protections, infrastructure security, critical software services, and security program management. Prior to that, Dr. Payne was Director of Security Research at Nebula, Inc., where he led a world-class team to build security into an enterprise private cloud product while also founding and leading the global security group for OpenStack.
“I was immediately attracted to BetterUp’s mission to help people unlock their potential. To enable this business, it’s critically important for us to continue being good stewards of customer data and to scale the overall security program,” said Bryan Payne, Chief Information Security Officer of BetterUp. “I couldn’t be more excited to join during a time where the company is not only continuing to innovate on new products and solutions for customers, but also experiencing such transformational global growth.”
BetterUp supports hundreds of thousands of employees across global organizations like Hilton, AB InBev, NASA, Salesforce, Chevron and Snap Inc. Most recently, the company also announced two additions to the executive team, including Tom Van Gilder as its first Chief Medical Officer, formerly Chief Medical Officer at Walmart, and Omar Dawood as President of BetterUp Care™, most recently from Calm and Ginger.
In late 2021, BetterUp announced its global expansion with the addition of new offices in Munich, London, and Amsterdam and a $300 million Series E fundraise, bringing the company’s valuation to $4.7 billion and total funding to $600 million, marking BetterUp as the largest mental health and coaching company in the world.
About BetterUp
Founded in 2013, BetterUp is the inventor of virtual professional coaching, and the global leader in 1:1 and group coaching, counseling, and mentorship at scale. BetterUp combines world-class coaching with AI technology and behavioral science to deliver personalized behavior change and improve the well-being, adaptability, and effectiveness of the workforce. With the world’s largest network of over 3,000 coaches, BetterUp offers coaching in 46 languages across over 90 countries, along with interactive professional development content, analytics and real-time insights to track employee progress. Used by more than 380 companies, including leading Fortune 1,000 companies, BetterUp drives transformational and lasting behavior change, resulting in improved business outcomes across organizations and inspiring professionals everywhere to pursue their lives with greater clarity, purpose, and passion. Investors include ICONIQ Growth, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Threshold Ventures, Plus Capital, Salesforce Ventures, Sapphire Ventures, Mubadala Capital, Freestyle Capital, Crosslink Capital, and Tenaya Capital. BetterUp’s Science Board is composed of leading researchers in the fields of positive psychology and human performance including Martin Seligman, Adam Grant, Shawn Achor, and Quinetta Roberson. BetterUp has been recognized in the Inc. 5000, Fortune’s Great Places to Work, and People Magazine’s Companies that Care. To learn more, visit www.betterup.com.
