Meet the experienced executives and investors behind Elastio.
Najaf Husain is a 4-time founder and the CEO of Elastio. With over 25 years of experience building high-growth, venture-backed software companies, Naj has a track record of solving IT infrastructure challenges in security and storage.
As the founder of AppAssure, Naj led its transformation into a global leader in application recoverability, achieving recognition as the fastest-growing backup company by Inc. Magazine. Leveraging his expertise in storage and security, he co-founded Elastio to deliver zero-day ransomware protection and assured recovery for businesses worldwide.
Naj holds a Bachelor’s in Computer Science from the University of Maryland. Outside of work, he enjoys investing in startups, competitive car racing, and polo matches with his family.
Adam Nelson is the CTO and Co-Founder of Elastio. With over 25 years of experience as a software engineer, architect, and engineering leader, Adam has spent his career developing innovative technologies that protect critical data from cyber threats and ensure business continuity. His work has consistently driven advancements in backup, disaster recovery, and cybersecurity, making him a recognized expert in the field.
Adam’s expertise was honed as a founding engineer at AppAssure Software, where he architected and scaled a backup and disaster recovery solution. During his tenure, he built the engineering team from three to over 160 members across multiple continents and guided the product from concept to a market leader, ultimately leading to its acquisition by Dell in 2012.
At Dell and later Quest Software, Adam oversaw global engineering for data protection products, championing rapid innovation and engineering excellence. At Elastio, he continues to lead the charge in creating ML-driven solutions that help organizations recover from ransomware and prevent future attacks.
Through his experiences, he has cultivated a relentless focus on resilience and innovation—principles that remain central to Elastio’s mission to safeguard organizations and their data from ever-evolving threats.
Todd Fredrick has over 25 years of experience leading high-growth, venture-backed, and category-defining software companies. His career highlights include a significant focus on data protection and the recoverability of critical data assets. As COO and co-founder of AppAssure, Todd scaled the company’s revenue from zero to a $50 million run rate within four years, earning the title of fastest-growing backup company worldwide by Inc. Magazine.
Todd’s leadership experience extends to enterprise sales organizations at renowned industry leaders such as Veritas, Symantec, and Dell, where he contributed to advancing innovative backup and data recovery solutions.
In addition, Todd has held executive roles at companies such as Cloudistics and Consul Risk Management. His extensive knowledge and proven track record position him as a trusted expert in ensuring data recoverability and resilience in the face of evolving challenges.
James is a Cyber Security Expert and entrepreneur with experience securing, designing, deploying, and maintaining large-scale, mission-critical applications and networks. James leads teams through multiple FedRAMP, NIST, ISO, PCI, and HITRUST compliance audits, and he has helped numerous companies formulate strategies for compliance and infrastructure scalability. His previous leadership roles span from CISO to VP Network Operations & Engineering to CTO and VP of Operations, at companies as diverse as GE, Epoch Internet, NETtel, SecureNet, Transaction Network Services, AuthX, Certify Global, SecureG, Cyber Defense Media Group, and OnePay.
Since 2013, Ben served as the CEO of Turbonomic, an application resource management company that was acquired by IBM for $2 billion. After the turnaround, Turbonomic appeared six times on the Inc5000 list of Fastest Growing Private companies.
Previously, Ben served as Co-Managing Partner of Bain Capital Ventures where he founded and built the technology and infrastructure investing practice appearing six times on Forbes’ Midas list of the World’s top investors. Previous positions included SVP at Veritas Software Corporation; and COO and CFO of Precise Software Solutions, Ltd.; and Partner at Allied Capital.
During his public service, Ben served US Treasury under Secretaries Lloyd Bentsen and Robert Rubin for which he was awarded the Exceptional Service award. Ben holds a B.A. in government from Harvard College and a MBA from Harvard Business School. He also attended and serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of Middlesex School.
Sounil Yu is the CISO and Head of Research at JupiterOne. He created the Cyber Defense Matrix and the DIE Triad, which are reshaping approaches to cybersecurity. He’s a Board Member of the FAIR Institute; is a visiting fellow at GMU Scalia Law School’s National Security Institute; guest lectures at Carnegie Mellon; and advises many startups. Sounil previously served as the CISO-in-Residence at YL Ventures and Chief Security Scientist at Bank of America. Before BofA, he helped improve information security at several Fortune 100 companies and Federal Government agencies. Sounil has over 20 granted patents and was recognized as one of the most influential people in security in 2020 by Security Magazine, Influencer of the Year in 2021 by SC Awards, a 2021 Top 10 CISO by Black Unicorn Awards, and for Lifetime Achievement in 2022 by the SANS Institute. He has an MS in Electrical Engineering from Virginia Tech and a BS in Electrical Engineering and a BA in Economics from Duke University.
Anthony Marquardt is a general manager leading Slalom’s Global Industry organization and serves as the Media and Communications (M&C) industry lead. Anthony has more than 20 years of experience in strategic and operational planning, as well as leading transformational organization and customer projects for major communication and media organizations. His expertise spans advertising, broadcasting, home entertainment, over-the-top, wireless, and cable. He is a trusted advisor to senior technology executives whose goal is to transform their organization and customer experience.
