Corporate Biographies
Melih Abdulhayoglu
CEO and Chief Security Architect of Comodo
Melih Abdulhayoglu created Comodo in 1998 with a bold vision of making the Trusted Internet a reality for all. His innovations have challenged some of the largest corporations and deeply entrenched business models to make the vision a reality, and his success has benefited the ecommerce industry, online businesses and users alike. Melih's pioneering business model has allowed him to provide the Comodo Firewall absolutely free, while continuing to grow revenue by over 30 percent, year over year. This innovative business model earned him Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2008 Award in the Information Technology Software Category for New Jersey.
Melih earned a BS in Electronic Engineering from Bradford University in 1991. During his tenure at Bradford, Melih was instrumental in creating new digital security technologies for large enterprises, computer manufacturers and governmental organizations worldwide. Using that experience and training, Melih established Comodo's core business building principle around the concept of Value Innovation - delivering solutions recognized for their technological innovation that has high value in the marketplace.
This intense focus on creating trust online has yielded such significant results that within just three years, Comodo has powered its way to the number two Certificate Authority position, controlling nearly one-third of all SSL certificates worldwide. Meanwhile, the company's award-winning, free firewall has become one of the most downloaded products in the world, protecting another PC every second of every day.
Please visit Melih's blog at www.melih.com.
Robin Alden
Chief Technical Officer
Robin is the Chief Technical Officer of the Comodo Research Lab. Robin has gained a B.Sc. in Computer Science & Electronics from the University of London and an M.Sc. in Computer Science from University of Manchester. He has extensive experience at developing and implementing Global computer systems and solutions. Prior to joining the Comodo Research Lab in 2000, Robin has held senior programming and technical positions with British Airways, CAPS and InfoSys.
Michael Fowler
Senior Business Development Manager, Worldwide Sales
Michael Fowler assists partners with establishing direct routes to the SSL certificate market, whether for Comodo's highly sought-after brand, through Comodo CA's OEM PKI CA Rootstore chaining program, or Comodo' OEM Sub-Intermediate CA program. Since joining Comodo CA in 2003, Michael has significantly expanded Comodo CA’s partner channel, including CDNs, Webhosts, Domain Name Registrars and Fortune 500 companies.
Before joining Comodo, Michael was a sales team manager J.D. Williams, an online merchant, where he was awarded "Salesman of the Year" in 2002.
Michael graduated in 1999 from Eden College, South Africa.
Dr. Richard Furness
Hardware Development - Comodo Research Lab
Richard is Head of Hardware Development with the Comodo Research Lab. He obtained his doctorate in Electronic Engineering, entitled "Circuit Architectures for Arithmetic Operations in Finite Fields" from Huddersfield University. Richard has published several papers in the field of Electronics and is a member of the Institution of Electrical and Electronic Engineers.
James Langman
VP, Business Development
James Langman, Director of Business Development for Comodo, is responsible for identifying and developing Global strategic partnerships, alliances and OEM relationships. James provides key strategic leadership in defining Comodo's go-to-market strategy for partner programs across channel sales, OEM sales and strategic business alliance organizations.
Since joining Comodo in 2001, James has taken the lead developing Comodo's extensive partner network that now reaches into well over 45%+ of the world's domains. Further, James has initiated and secured numerous successful technology relationships across multiple markets including wireless, ISP's and other Service Providers. Finally, James is a key contributor in Comodo's continuous innovation and development of Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) based solutions.
Prior to joining Comodo, James held a senior sales position at Hays Plc a leading Global recruitment specialists where he was focused on driving revenues through sales and field operations. James holds a Bachelor of Arts degree (with honours) in Business Management from Manchester Metropolitan University.
Andrew J. Pynes
VP, Sales
After working as a sales and marketing consultant to Comodo for over five years, Andrew Pynes formally joined Comodo in November 2004 as Executive Vice President of Worldwide Sales & Marketing. Mr. Pynes brings over fifteen years of sales, marketing and management experience in the high technology industry to Comodo. Prior to joining Comodo he served as the sales & marketing executive with one of North America's leading IT consulting/systems integration firm, Sierra Systems. Mr. Pynes' career also includes tenures with one of North Americas largest IT Value Added Reseller TIG (Technology Integration Group), a leading eCommerce consulting firm, and an ERP implementation and custom application development firm. Mr. Pynes holds a B.A. and graduated with honors from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Michael Whittam
Chief Finance Officer
Michael has worked for Comodo since it started in 1998. After graduating from Hull in 1987 with a BA Hons degree in Accountancy and Finance he trained with a firm of chartered accountants. He then moved into the private sector as Accountant and Company Secretary for a number of small to medium-sized companies. Over the last six years, Michael has established a successful business consultancy practice, working closely with blue-chip firms such as KPMG and Ernst Young. He is also a director in a chartered accountancy firm that specializes in providing various business and accountancy services to companies and organizations.
Alex Yevelev
VP, US Sales
Since joining Comodo Group, Inc. in October of 2009, Alex has initiated many successful changes enabling him to building a solid foundation and a world class sales organization. As VP of US Sales at Comodo Alex's is enabling the company to reach their goals and financial targets while growing all of the outbound sales teams including the Partner and Enterprise groups.
Alex has been in technology industry since 1997. Prior to Comodo Alex held a number of senior positions at leading Web Hosting, SaaS, Cloud Technology, and Managed services companies in the industry: Apptix, Intermedia, RackSpace, Concentric just to name a few. Alex holds a Master of Arts degree from Odessa, Ukraine and studied at Pace University, NY majoring in International Marketing.
Now that you know more about Comodo, we invite you to call us direct at 1 888 256 2608, or Contact us online. For more information on our security solutions view our product categories.