Corelight leadership

Ali Islam is a seasoned R&D leader with over 20 years of experience in cybersecurity, known for building and scaling high-performing global teams. His expertise spans the full product lifecycle—from launching successful 0-to-1 products to evolving mature platforms with step-function innovations that drive significant ARR growth and customer retention.

Ali joins Corelight from Palo Alto Networks, where he spent five years leading the development and global scaling of their malware analysis platform, helping double its revenue to over $750M. He also spearheaded the conception and launch of two cutting-edge AI security products: AI Model Scanning and AI Red Teaming.

Previously, Ali was the co-founder and CEO of Numen, a startup focused on connected car security. Earlier in his career, he was a founding security researcher at FireEye Labs, where he later led the overall R&D efforts for their flagship Network (NX) and Email (EX) products—advancing APT detection and machine learning-driven automation systems.

Ali holds multiple patents and has spoken at major industry conferences including Defcon and RSA. He has also collaborated with government agencies such as the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Korean Internet & Security Agency (KISA) on intelligence-sharing efforts to combat nation-state threats.

He earned an MBA from UC Berkeley and a master’s in network security from Monash University in Australia.

Jean Schaffer is the Federal Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Corelight, responsible for leading strategy and innovation for Corelight's cybersecurity solutions for the US federal market.

Schaffer served in the Department of Defense (DoD) for over 33 years. Most recently, she served in the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) as Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) and Chief of Cyber and Enterprise Operations in the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO).

Schaffer also held executive roles at the National Security Agency (NSA), serving as chief of its enterprise connectivity and specialized IT services group responsible for the agency's network infrastructure underpinning its mission and enterprise systems. Before that, Schaffer handled risk management for the NSA's IT systems as its authorizing official. She set up security policies and processes for certification and accreditation.

Schaffer earned a master's degree in national resource strategy from National Defense University and a master's degree in computer science from Johns Hopkins University, as well as a bachelor's degree in computer science from the University of Louisiana.

Shawn Cherian is a Partner in the Flagship Fund at Energy Impact Partners (EIP). He is responsible for leading EIP’s investment strategy around enterprise software and cybersecurity.

Shawn has more than 18 years of experience in enterprise software and cybersecurity technology. He started his career as an investment banker in Merrill Lynch Global Technology Group before joining Cisco’s Corporate Development Group, where he led acquisitions and investments across several business units, including Service Provider Networking, Service Provider Mobility and Collaboration. Shawn went on to work as an investor focused on private enterprise software companies at Third Point LLC, a multi-strategy hedge fund based in New York.

Shawn holds a Bachelor of Science in Government from Cornell University. He lives in New York with his wife and three daughters.

Tom is the Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Cisco Security Business Group (SBG). A respected security industry leader with strong executive management skills and in-depth knowledge of the challenges surrounding secure enterprise computing, Tom is responsible for the company’s global security business to fundamentally simplify the security experience.

Prior to Cisco, Tom was the SVP/GM of the Network and Advanced Security Business Group at VMware, where he led the endpoint, networking, load balancing and network security businesses. He was also the CEO/co-founder of Bracket Computing which was acquired by VMware.

Before Bracket Computing, Tom was the GM of the Security Technology Group at Cisco where he led the company’s businesses for security management, appliances, applications, and endpoint services. Tom was also part of the founding team at IronPort Systems and served as senior vice president of marketing when the company was acquired by Cisco. Under his guidance, IronPort grew an average of 100 percent year-on-year for seven years. During his tenure, IronPort rose to become the leading provider of antispam, antivirus, and antimalware appliances for organizations ranging from small businesses to the Global 2000.

Preceding IronPort, Tom worked at iBEAM Broadcasting, Silicon Graphics, Boston Consulting Group, and Raytheon.

Tom holds an M.B.A. degree from Harvard University, and graduated Magna Cum Laude with an M.S.E.E. degree from Northwestern University and a B.S.E.E. from Tufts University.

Paul Kwan is a managing director at General Catalyst, a full-stack venture capital firm whose mission is to invest in powerful, positive change that endures. At GC, Paul focuses on mission-driven, software-enabled companies that are category-defining in their own unique way.

Thematically, Paul focuses on investing in global resilience and the need to modernize our most critical bedrock systems including defense, industrial, energy and healthcare. Paul is a board member at AwardCo, Anomali, and Corelight, and a board observer at Anduril, as well as leading investments in Samsara and Vannevar Labs.

Prior to joining General Catalyst, Paul was head of west coast technology banking at Morgan Stanley, and for 26 years, advised leading technology companies on their most important strategic and financial objectives. At Morgan Stanley, he helped create the modern-day direct listing for Spotify, and led tech IPOs from all 6 inhabited continents.

Paul holds a B.A.S. in Computer Science and Economics from Stanford University. He and his wife are passionate supporters of research for understanding neuropyschiatric diseases like autism and 22q11. Paul also serves on the board of the Packard Foundation for Children's Health.

Teddie Wardi joined Insight in 2017 and focuses on high-growth software and internet companies. Teddie works with several Insight portfolio companies and helps lead new investments across both Enterprise and SMB software.

Prior to joining Insight, Teddie was a Partner at Atomico, one of the largest European venture funds based in London. He sourced and led multiple growth investments in SaaS companies, being active at both the board and company levels supporting rapid growth and international expansion.

Previously Teddie worked at Dawn Capital, a SaaS focused early stage fund based in London, where he sourced and led investments in Automile and Showpad, among others. Before moving to venture investing, Teddie was the co-founder and CTO of Nervogrid, a leading cloud service marketplace platform. Nervogrid was acquired by ALSO, Europe’s largest IT distributor that is listed on the Swiss stock exchange.

Teddie holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a B.Sc. from Aalto University in Helsinki, where he focused on Finance and Computer Science.