Eight years across Zscaler, Palo Alto Networks, and Cato Networks: selling it, marketing it, and helping define it.
My SASE experience doesn't start with a whitepaper. It starts with a quota. Senior SE at Zscaler. Marketing then SE at Palo Alto Networks, both focused on SASE. Director of Product Marketing then Channel SE at Cato. The marketing and field work have alternated throughout — each informing the other. I've run the demos, built the lab environments, and been in the room when a security architect challenges the architecture. That's what makes the marketing accurate.
The hardest category work isn't explaining what a product does. It's getting buyers to accept that their current architecture has a problem worth solving.
Two years as a Senior SE at Zscaler when cloud-delivered security was still a debate, not a default. The work was technical and commercial: understanding the architecture well enough to answer hard questions, and understanding the buyer well enough to know which questions mattered. Zscaler is where I built the SE instincts and SASE vocabulary that shaped everything that followed.
At Palo Alto Networks I held two distinct roles in the SASE space. First as Technical/Product Marketing Manager, shaping how Prisma Access was positioned externally and building the enablement and content that supported the field. Then as Systems Engineering Specialist, taking that positioning directly into customer and partner engagements.
The SE work included enabling the core sales team on Prisma Access, delivering Ultimate Test Drive sessions across the US, and presenting at the Executive Briefing Center and Ignite Conference. The marketing work included content strategy, competitive positioning, and conference speaking.
I joined Cato Networks as Director of Product Marketing. After three-plus years in that role, I transitioned into a Channel Sales Engineer position, leading direct technical and sales enablement for partners.
The marketing years covered content strategy, competitive positioning, and the external narrative for the platform. The most significant outcome: coordinating Cato's Gartner Magic Quadrant positioning in 2024 with Product Management, resulting in Cato being recognized as a Gartner MQ leader. I also built a new website product section from scratch (copy, screenshots, demo videos) within a two-month window.
Awards at Cato: Outstanding Contribution to Sales and Company MVP.
Panel, podcast, or a direct conversation about where SASE and zero trust are headed.