Mark Bentkower

About Mark Bentkower

I help enterprise organisations understand that AI governance is not a compliance checkbox. It is a data strategy problem, and getting it wrong has consequences. As Principal Technologist for the Americas at Veeam, I work at the intersection of AI governance, data security posture management, post-quantum cryptography migration, and cyber resilience. I carry quota, work active enterprise deals, and report to the VP of Presales, Americas, while also serving as a public voice for the company on its most forward-leaning topics. Week to week, that means hosting executive forums with CISOs, CIOs, and CTOs, running McKinsey-validated data resilience maturity assessments, advising customers on quantum-vulnerable encryption inventories, and working closely with Veeam\'s Enterprise and Federal civilian and defense teams. The thread connecting all of it: organizations are sitting on data they do not understand, feeding it into AI systems they have not governed, and protecting it with cryptography that quantum computing will break. My job is to help them see that clearly and do something about it. I hold a BA in Theatre Arts from UC Santa Cruz alongside my CISSP, VMCE, AI Security & Governance, and DSPM certifications. That combination is not an accident. The ability to translate technical risk into a story an executive can act on is the skill that has defined my career, from presales engineering through regional director roles across APAC and ASEAN, to where I sit today. Available for board advisory, expert witness, and speaking engagements in data security, AI governance, and cyber resilience.

Experience

1. Principal Technologist, Americas

   Veeam Software

   Oct 2024 — Present · Washington, DC, US

   Member of the Americas presales leadership team, reporting to the VP of Presales, Americas. Quota-carrying role spanning enterprise deal pursuit, technical solutioning, customer-facing presales, partner enablement, and thought leadership across commercial, partner, and federal accounts.Primary technical evangelist for Veeam\'s expanded data security posture management and AI governance capabilities following the Securiti.ai acquisition, representing the company\'s evolution from backup vendor to data company.Key responsibilities and achievements:• Host 4-6 Be Connected enterprise forums per year: two-hour executive roundtables with CISOs, CIOs, and CTOs exploring AI governance, data strategy, and compliance automation. Events consistently generate direct follow-on workshop demand.• Deliver the McKinsey-validated Data Resilience Maturity Model (DRMM) workshop, a 50-question assessment across compliance, operations, network, and security, producing a four-horizon maturity roadmap customers present to senior leadership for remediation planning.• Advise customers on post-quantum cryptography (PQC) migration in collaboration with alliance partners, delivering cryptographic bill of materials assessments with API integration into Veeam to inventory, prioritize, and act on quantum-vulnerable encryption.• Work closely with Veeam\'s Enterprise and Federal civilian and defense teams.• Business development advisor to Veeam\'s Federal distribution partners and GSI\'s.• Champion the data-out security architecture: LLM data hygiene, toxic data combination risk, content indexing, automated tagging, and AI firewall design.• Veeam All-Star Award 2025 (>100% achievement, Americas).

Education

• University of California, Santa Cruz

  BA, Theatre Arts

Skills

• Consultancy
• Firewalls
• Cloud Computing
• Windows
• Data Center
• Vmware
• Server Architecture
• Backup
• Saas
• San
• Hp
• Disaster Recovery
• Cissp
• Professional Services
• Replication
• Nas
• IT Service Management
• Customer Relations
• Systems Management
• Pre-Sales
• Legal Hold
• High Availability
• Aix
• Linux
• Managed Services
• Integration
• Storage
• Information Management
• Tcp/Ip
• Enterprise Storage
• Content Management
• System Administration
• Solaris
• Network Security
• Operating Systems
• Troubleshooting
• Netapp
• Active Directory
• Unix
• Solution Selling