Who is Apurva?
Apurva Dhanwantri is the AVP of Cybersecurity Engineering at Cornerstone OnDemand. He is an experienced technologist and cybersecurity leader with more than 16 years of experience in IT security and compliance management. He holds a master’s degree in Information Systems and a bachelor’s in Computer Science engineering.
He is also an advisory member on the board of the EC-Council Certified Application Security Engineer (CASE) program. His passion lies in building strong global teams and helping them succeed by providing them with an environment that encourages innovation and creativity.
Apurva lives in Austin, TX with his wife Sonika and beautiful 8 years old daughter, Saisha . In his free time, he loves to travel and explore new places with his family.
Tell us more about your role in Cornerstone OnDemand.
Cornerstone powers the future-ready workforce and serves over 7,000 customers and 100 million users and is available in 180 countries and 50 languages.
As the AVP of Cybersecurity Engineering at Cornerstone, I am responsible for leading our security engineering initiatives, as well as developing and maintaining innovative state-of-the-art security controls across our cloud platforms.
In my current role, I engage with business functions across the organization to ensure we meet our business objectives while preserving security and compliance standards.
What is the most difficult part of your job? But the most rewarding one?
With the cloud evolution and digital transformation, technology is rapidly changing and so is the security landscape. The most difficult yet rewarding part of my job is to stay abreast with industry and technology developments and address any emerging security risks, which are sometimes unknown. It’s challenging and exciting at the same time – continually learning new skills and making an impact.
Is there anything that you would change about your professional path?
No. While growing up, I was always passionate about computers. When going to college, I chose computer science as my major where I developed a deep interest in the cybersecurity field. I enjoyed the learning process, and new approaches to solving security issues, I was fascinated by the limitless opportunities in the field and the problem-solving aspect, which I still enjoy today.
What’s your key strategy for the development of your company?
My key strategy is to align with business goals and create an environment where everyone on the team shares a common language of success, every individual has the flexibility to create a growth plan as unique as they are and work with ownership, autonomy, creativity and agility.
What do you think about the next period of time, keeping in mind the pandemic and the new business climate? How will your industry be affected?
The global pandemic has caused a significant reset in work trends. Leaders have been forced to rethink their talent development strategies to better align with the business objectives. In the post-pandemic world, less focus will be placed on roles. A higher priority will be assigned to the skills needed to drive effective workflows and realize competitive advantages. With distributed teams now the norm, it is more important than ever to build effective remote collaboration skills into our team’s DNA.
Please name a few technologies which have the greatest impact on your business.
Cloud, AI and ML are some of the important technologies touching every industry and creating new opportunities every day.
What books do you have on your nightstand?
Right now I’m reading “Thinking, Fast and Slow” by Daniel Kahneman
