Wayson Vannatta

Wayson Vannatta is currently Chief Information Officer at WatchGuard, a leading provider of network security solutions for the SMB market.  He has over 22 years of IT management, software engineering, business systems and operations experience.  Wayson joined WatchGuard in 2015 and is responsible for the company’s global IT operations strategy, software development, data management, and business systems and services.  During his tenure at WatchGuard, Wayson has led a complete IT transformation by removing legacy systems, leveraging a hybrid cloud environment, and modernizing several customer-facing applications leading to a direct impact on end users.  His team redesigned a highly customized Salesforce CRM that optimized the sales lead generation and opportunities process.  He created a new information security program that led to tighter policies, a multi-factor authentication solution, GDPR compliance, and an internal user security education program.  Under Wayson’s leadership, WatchGuard’s employees have increased their productivity and the per employee service cost was reduced by 18%.

Previously, Wayson was Vice President of Technology at InfoSpace, a leading provider of search engine monetization solutions, where he led software engineering, cloud operations, corporate systems, and data warehouse operations. During his tenure at InfoSpace, he was instrumental in moving their entire infrastructure to the public cloud while transforming the way they deliver software solutions. Wayson also served in a variety of senior IT leadership roles at InfoSpace where he led the integration of several acquisitions and the replacement of an ERP system.  He was previously at AT&T Wireless where he held program management position for collections and fraud systems. He began his IT career in the U.S. Air Force as a system administrator.

Wayson holds an MBA from Columbia College and a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from St. Martin’s University.