Global Field CTO, Kiteworks
GLOBAL FIELD CTO, KITEWORKS
CYBERSECURITY | DIGITAL SOVEREIGNTY | AI GOVERNANCE | REGULATORY COMPLIANCE
Bridging regulation, cybersecurity, AI, and product innovation to help organizations maintain control of sensitive data in an increasingly complex digital world.
Turning emerging regulation and technology risk into practical security and sovereignty strategies.
Rick Goud, Ph.D. is Global Field CTO at Kiteworks, where he works at the intersection of cybersecurity, regulation, digital sovereignty, compliance, and emerging technologies such as AI.
In his role, Rick helps connect changing market requirements and legislation with product innovation, working with customers, partners, and industry leaders to understand how organizations can maintain greater control over sensitive data while navigating increasingly complex regulatory and security environments. His work focuses especially on secure data exchange, data sovereignty, AI governance, compliance, and translating emerging risks into practical action.
Before joining Kiteworks, Rick co-founded Zivver, a European secure communications company built around making sensitive digital communication secure without making it difficult for users. Over roughly a decade, Zivver grew into an international cybersecurity company before being acquired by Kiteworks in 2025.
Rick also brings an academic and analytical background to cybersecurity. He holds a Ph.D. focused on decision support systems and healthcare and has consistently emphasized fact-based analysis, looking beyond headlines and hype to understand how technology, regulation, and security actually work in practice.
Everyone is talking about digital sovereignty right now. What does real data sovereignty actually mean beyond simply storing data inside a particular country?
As companies begin giving AI agents access to sensitive corporate information, what security and governance risks are organizations underestimating?
You sit between legislation, customer requirements, and technology. Where do you see the biggest disconnect between what regulators expect and how organizations actually secure their data?
Organizations now exchange sensitive information through email, file sharing, cloud services, APIs, and AI tools. How should security teams think about governing all of those channels consistently?
What do European organizations misunderstand about the CLOUD Act and the idea that choosing a European data center automatically makes their information sovereign?
You helped build Zivver around the idea that security should not get in the way of people doing their jobs. How can organizations reduce human-error risk without simply adding more training, warnings, and friction?
Kiteworks helps organizations protect and govern sensitive content as it moves between people, systems, applications, AI tools, and external organizations.
The Kiteworks platform provides a unified control plane for secure email, file sharing, managed file transfer, web forms, APIs, and other sensitive data communication channels. It gives organizations greater visibility and control over who accesses sensitive information, where that information travels, and how it is used.
Kiteworks supports organizations operating in highly regulated industries and environments that require advanced security, data sovereignty, detailed audit trails, and regulatory compliance.
Its strategic focus includes AI data governance, private data exchange, regulatory compliance, third-party risk, and protecting sensitive information from both malicious activity and human error.
Growth equity investment from Insight Partners and Sixth Street Growth.
Rick Goud brings a rare combination of cybersecurity expertise, entrepreneurial experience, regulatory understanding, and technical perspective to conversations about the future of data security. As Global Field CTO at Kiteworks and co-founder of secure communications company Zivver, Rick has spent years working on the practical challenges behind protecting sensitive information while keeping organizations productive. He offers a fact-based perspective on digital sovereignty, AI governance, cybersecurity, regulatory compliance, and secure data exchange, helping audiences separate meaningful technology and regulatory change from industry hype.
SHARE A FEW DETAILS BELOW AND THE KITCASTER TEAM WILL FOLLOW UP SHORTLY.
Or email directly: kitcaster@moburst.com