Barracuda CRO Chris Ross waves goodbye after nine years

Ross shares with CRN his heartfelt farewell to the vendor and teases his next move

Barracuda Networks chief revenue officer Chris Ross announces today as his last day at the cybersecurity vendor.

He has spent the last nine years at Barracuda. Joining in 2015 as SVP of international sales, he was later promoted after seven and a half years to the CRO role.

Ross has been with Barracuda through several significant changes.

He joined when it was still a public company until November 2017 when private equity firm Thoma Bravo announced it was taking Barracuda private in a $1.6bn deal.

In April 2022, KKR then bought the business from Thoma Bravo for about $4bn.

Ross reveals to CRN he will begin his new role at the start of May and until then will relax and spend time with the family.

"It'll be nice to not have work emails to look at for a few weeks," he chuckles.

His next move?

Lifting the curtain slightly on his next venture, Ross teases his new role.

"I have a career plan for myself and the opportunity that I'm moving to was part of that plan, but I didn't expect it to happen now. I fully intended to stay at Barracuda until I was approached about this opportunity," he says.

"It's a little bit of a career change. But it's still very much related to the software space, but just not necessarily security only focused. So I'm looking forward to a bit of a broader exposure to the software landscape.

"It's a London-based opportunity. It's exciting, it's something that has been part of my career plan and it just found me earlier than I anticipated."

Ross explains he spoke with Barracuda CEO Hatem Naguib in January to work through a transition plan to ensure there'd be minimal disruption to the business and keep the momentum going.

"I committed to Hatem that we'd finish out the fiscal year which ended in February and make sure that everything was set up ready for the new fiscal year.

"It's been an amazing transition and I'm grateful to Hatem for how we've been able to work through that plan."

Farewell to Barracuda

"This is so heartfelt to me that Barracuda is an awesome company. I've loved every minute working at Barracuda.

"I care very much about the people and the business. It's been amazing to have such a solid transition and a really nice, friendly exit over the last few months.

"I feel great looking at the team that they're all set up for for continued success, and that's always a great way to leave somewhere."