Say hello to Socure’s new CEO! Then again, you’ve probably already met.
Johnny Ayers, who co-founded the identity verification company with Sunil Madhu in 2012 and has since served as both Director of Business Development and Chief Product Officer for the New York-based firm, has been named CEO. Ayers will take over from Tom Thimot, who joined the company as CEO in the spring of 2018.
“I am extremely grateful to Tom for his commitment to expanding Socure, building the organization, and serving as a mentor over the past 2+ years,” Ayers said in a statement. “His leadership skills and wealth of experience in running technology companies have been extremely instrumental in building the phenomenal work culture and team here at Socure, while laying the groundwork for our next phase of growth.”
Socure grew significantly under Thimot’s leadership. In 2018, the company gained ISO certification for privacy and security controls, and launched its Aida (Authentic Identity Agent) bot to provide real-time validation and authentication of digital identities. Socure also forged partnerships with companies like workflow management specialist Alloy and digital banking services provider (and fellow Finovate alum) Q2. Socure was also the target of robust investment in the Thimot Era, securing $65 million in funding – more than half the company’s total capital – in the past two years alone.
“In my time as CEO, we together built a world class, diverse team, added hundreds of customers, and increased the company valuation significantly,” Thimot said in the company’s announcement. “I also had the privilege of spending a lot of time working with and mentoring Johnny. Now it is time to pass the baton. As the original co-founder, Johnny is poised to take Socure to the next level by offering the right products and penetrating the right markets so that Socure is truly built to last. I’m very excited to see what’s next.”
The leadership shift comes at an opportune time for Socure, with interest in digital identity security on the rise during the global health crisis. Socure’s predictive analytics platform leverages AI and machine learning to analyze trusted on- and offline data intelligence from a wide variety of sources – including email, phone, and Internet – to offer real-time identity verification. As Chief Product Officer, Ayers led innovation in Socure’s Socure ID+ platform, helping bring a trio of expansions – Intelligent KYC, DocV, and Sigma Synthetic Fraud – to the company’s flagship solution.
A Finovate alum since 2013, Socure now includes four of the top five U.S. banks, eight of the top ten credit card issuers, and more than 100 of the largest fintechs among its customers and partners. The company was named a “Cool Vendor” this year in the AI for Banking and Investments category by Gartner.
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