Cybersecurity Executive Mary O’Brien Joins The Quad9 Foundation Council
July 06, 2022 - Zurich, Switzerland Quad9, the industry’s leading non-profit global public recursive DNS resolver, announced today that noted engineer and cybersecurity executive Mary O’Brien has joined Quad9’s Foundation Council, the governing board that oversees the global public-benefit Internet security service.
“We’re thrilled to have Mary’s participation in the Counci to move the needle towards our mission to protect the free Internet,” said John Todd, General Manager of Quad9. “Mary’s input will be important for Council issues that will continue to progress the safety and security of the Web in the coming months and years.”
O’Brien graduated from Dublin City University with an electrical engineering degree, which she put to work at British semiconductor manufacturer GEC Plessey in Swindon. In 1994 she moved to Motorola, where she worked on their carrier products, developing GSM, GPRS, and UMTS ASICs and software in their Swindon and Cork sites. In 2007 she joined IBM and in 2012 moved to IBM Security in Atlanta as director of threat product development. Two years later she became Vice President of Research and Development, and in 2018 she was named General Manager of IBM Security, headquartered in Boston. Today she runs the global organization of more than eight thousand people from its Cork offices, in her native Ireland.
“I’m deeply honored to have the privilege of welcoming Ms. O’Brien to Quad9’s Foundation Council. Her expertise and understanding of the cybersecurity ecosystem are invaluable to us as a body, and her oversight will benefit Quad9’s users throughout the world,” said Bill Woodcock, Chairman of the Foundation Council.
O’Brien brings more than thirty years of experience as an engineer and security executive to Quad9’s Foundation Council, where she fills the seat vacated by Dorian Kim, who passed away earlier this year, and returns the foundation to its full strength of five councillors.
About Quad9
Quad9 is a recursive DNS service providing cybersecurity protection against malware and phishing. Quad9 is a public-benefit foundation which exists for the purpose of improving privacy and security, Quad9 does not collect or resell personal data. Its service is provided to individuals and organizations at no cost and requires no contract. The organization was launched in 2017 and now operates from nearly two hundred locations in ninety countries. Quad9 exists to improve end user protection and privacy worldwide in addition to promoting the stability and security of the Internet.
