Michael Frendo (engineer)

Michael Joseph Frendo (born 1960) is a Canadian engineer and investor. Frendo was one of the founders of Cisco Systems technology brands. He is the former Executive Vice President of Polycom. Frendo has recently become the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of the internet security company, Proofpoint.

Cisco Systems
Frendo spent more than 10 years at Cisco in 2 roles, first as founder and leader of the Cisco Technology Center which was an incubation and advanced technology development team responsible for delivering many first-of products for Cisco in amongst other areas Voice, Cable Data and Wireless. He spent the second half of his tenure at Cisco in the Voice Technology group leading architectural and engineering teams of up to 400 engineers to develop voice technology and products for bot the Enterprise and Service provider segments.

Infinera
In 2010, Frendo joined the optical transmission equipment manufacturer Infinera as Vice President of Architecture. Working for Infinera, he headed the team responsible for developing systems and optical architecture, as well as their implementation over the long-term.

Polycom
In May 2014, Frendo assumed the position of executive vice president of worldwide engineering at Polycom, a multinational voice and video communication technology company. In this position, he leads Polycom engineers around the world in creating visual collaboration products to be used anywhere. He later helped complete the deal of HP purchasing the company in an all-cash transaction of $40 per share, implying a total enterprise value of approximately $3.3 billion, inclusive of Poly's net debt

Journey.ai
After leaving Polycom, Frendo was appointed as the CTO of the new technology company Journey.ai. Journey.ai Identifies Platforms, and solves security, privacy, and customer experience.

Proofpoint
Michael Frendo has been appointed to the newly-created role of chief technology officer, engineering, effective immediately. Reporting directly to CEO Ashan Willy and working alongside co-founder Marcel DePaolis, Frendo will spearhead the continued development of Proofpoint’s cohesive platform to thwart threats across the most critical stages of the attack chain.

The company has over a billion dollars in yearly revenue and focuses on defending against criminal cyberattacks.

Investments
Michael Frendo has been known to invest in Internet startups, financial businesses and restaurants. He has recently been part of the opening of an upscale sports bar in Niagara-on-the-Lake called Bricks and Barley's, along with a lot of properties across the Niagara Region.