Here are some of the latest executive hirings, promotions, and staff changes that happened in March. If you’d like SDxCentral to report on your company’s movers and shakers, or if you’ve got a tip about layoffs and restructuring, please send the information to Julia King ([email protected]) for inclusion in the monthly headcount column.

Zero-trust and cloud security vendor Zscaler announced plans to lay off about 177 employees. The news came during its second quarter of 2023 earnings call. Executives claim the “targeted cost-optimization plan” is to adjust the company’s business model as it sees inefficiencies in certain positions and macroeconomic headwinds that resulted in large deal delays.

“After significantly growing our teams in recent years, we took a fresh look at our organization and found opportunities to streamline operations and to align people, roles, and projects to our strategic priorities,” Zscaler Chairman and CEO Jay Chaudhry said during the earnings call. Read more.

Verizon shook up its executive ranks, shifting leaders to head up different operating divisions and announced the impending departure of long-time CFO Matt Ellis. The shifts appeared to be rather abrupt and hint at Verizon attempting to jump start growth across some of its lagging operating divisions.

The biggest move was Sowmayanarayan Sampath shifting from head of Verizon Business Group to become CEO and EVP of Verizon’s Consumer Group. Manon Brouillette had held that position until late last year, when she stepped down after less than a year in the role. Read more.

In an industry with a culture that marginalizes women “on a fairly regular basis,” it’s no wonder that women in tech are quitting their jobs at more than twice the rate of their male colleagues, Gartner Analyst Christie Struckman told SDxCentral.

According to a report from Accenture, gender diversity in the tech industry has actually taken a few steps back in recent decades. In 1984, 35% of tech workers were women, and today that figure sits at 32%, with some estimates ranging even lower. Women are also leaving their tech careers at a 45% higher rate than men, the report noted. Read more.

Amazon will slash 9,000 jobs in the coming weeks, including positions in its Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud division, as part of its ongoing cost cutting efforts. The move comes just months after the company announced plans to cut 18,000 jobs.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy in a note to employees explained that the job cuts were part of its recently concluded “second phase of our operating plan (“OP2”).” He explained the cuts will mostly impact its AWS; People Experience and Technology Solutions (PXT); Advertising; and Twitch divisions. Read more.

Ericsson Canada announced Jeanette Irekvist as president.

Microsoft appointed Sandra Peterson as lead independent director.

Vodafone announced Vinod Kumar will retire as CEO of Vodafone Business.

Cohesity appointed Kit Beall as chief revenue officer.

Intel appointed Stuart Pann as SVP and GM of Intel Foundry Services.

SUSE appointed Dirk-Peter van Leeuwen as CEO.

Manta promoted Ernie Ostic to chief evangelist and hired Bernard Desarnauts as SVP of product.

NinjaOne appointed Robert Gibbons as CTO.

Fobi appointed Colby McKenzie as chief revenue officer.

Aveva announced Caspar Herzberg as CEO.

Zendesk announced Julie Swinney as CFO.

Schneider Electric appointed Ruben Llanes as CEO of AutoGrid Systems.

NetSPI announced Vinay Anand as chief product officer and Jay Golonka as CFO.

Auvik appointed Bob Feller as CFO, Courtney Harrison as chief human resources officer, and Siva Ananmalay as chief development officer.

Armis appointed Efraim Harari as chief legal officer.

CDS named Joe Cozzolino as CEO.

Rocket Software appointed Gary Gregory as CTO and Puneet Kohli as president of its application modernization business unit.

Netography hired David Meltzer as chief product officer.

GFT US announced Scott Hofmann as chief revenue officer.

Aiven hired David Wyatt as chief revenue officer.

ZwitterCo announced Chris Ling as CFO.

Scality appointed Peter Brennan as chief revenue officer.

Quantum Brilliance appointed Mark Luo as CEO.

Bitrise announced Steven Rees-Pullman as chief revenue officer.

XFactor.io announced Jimmie Lee as CTO.

Veriff hired Hubert Behaghel as VP of engineering.

Veza appointed Jason Garoutte as CMO.

Matillion appointed Narayan Menon as CFO and chief operating officer.

Cockroach Labs hired Jason Forget as president and chief revenue officer.

EDB appointed Chandler Hoisington as chief product officer, Leslie O’Neil as chief human resources officer, and Jozef de Vries as chief product engineering officer.

Infobip appointed Richard Kraska as CFO.

Orca Security appointed Gil Geron as CEO.

Appfire appointed Andy Boyd as chief product officer.

Versa Networks appointed Dan Maier as CMO.

Deep Instinct announced Ed Carter as chief revenue officer.

JFrog hired Aran Azarzar as chief information officer.

Incode appointed Domingo Guerra as EVP of trust.

Aware appointed Kevin Colón as chief revenue officer.

Mezmo hired Natalia Harris as VP of people and inclusion.

Immersive Labs appointed Eric Johnson as chief revenue officer.

Sinch announced Laurinda Pang as CEO.