At F5, we have embraced a ‘‘human-first’’ approach to the way we conduct our business, guided by our principle that we do the right thing for each other, our customers, our shareholders, and our communities. Reflected in our commitment to Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG), human-first extends from the environmental sustainability of our products and operations to the well-being of our employees and our communities.
F5, Inc. holds itself to the highest standards of corporate governance. Under the oversight of our Board of Directors, we seek to protect our shareholders and optimize economic results while still honoring our responsibilities to customers, employees, partners, public officials and regulators, and the environment and communities in which we conduct business.
The Board and its committees outlined below administer all aspects of corporate governance for F5, evaluating the performance of management, promoting responsible and ethical decision-making, and providing an independent and objective source of advice and oversight as we pursue our corporate goals.
Mr. Higginson has served as F5’s Board of Directors chair since April 2004 with the exception of the period of July 1, 2015 to December 13, 2015 when he served as our Lead Independent Director, and as one of our directors since May 1996. He served as Chairman of Hubspan, Inc., an e-business infrastructure provider from 2009 to March 2012. He served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Hubspan from August 2001 to September 2007. From November 1995 to November 1998, he served as President of Atrieva Corporation, a provider of advanced data backup and retrieval technology. Mr. Higginson served as a director of Pivot3, Inc., a privately held company that develops and markets shared storage and virtual server appliances from December 2011 until February 2020, and Clarity Health Services, a privately held company that provides web-based healthcare coordination services. Mr. Higginson holds a B.S. in Commerce and a M.B.A. from Santa Clara University.
Marianne Budnik joined F5’s board of directors in October 2022. Ms. Budnik has served as Chief Marketing Officer for VAST Data since September 2023. She is an accomplished leader with extensive marketing and cybersecurity expertise. Ms. Budnik served as Chief Marketing Officer for Talon Cyber Security from March 2022 through July 2023, and as Chief Marketing Officer for CrowdStrike from December 2020 through March 2022, where she also oversaw the company’s diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. From May 2017 through December 2020 Ms. Budnik served as Chief Marketing Officer for CyberArk, a leader in Privileged Access Management and Identity Security solutions. Her previous experience includes leadership roles with SimpliVity, Acme Packet, CA Technologies, and EMC Corporation. Ms. Budnik earned an M.B.A. from Boston University and holds a bachelor’s degree from Babson College. She also serves on the Board of Cerence Inc., a publicly traded software company that develops artificial intelligence assistant technology primarily for automobiles.
Elizabeth Buse joined F5’s Board in 2020. Ms. Buse served as Co-Chief Executive Officer and Chief Executive Officer of Monitise PLC during 2014 and 2015, after retiring as Executive Vice President of Global Services for Visa, Inc., a position she held from 2013 to 2014. Ms. Buse held various other senior leadership positions at Visa during her 16-year tenure, including Group President for Asia-Pacific, Central Europe, Middle East, and Africa. In addition, Ms. Buse has served on the board of U.S. Bancorp since 2018. She also served on the board of directors of eNett International, a privately held payment services company specializing in B2B international payment solutions, from March 2016 until June 2019, and Travelport Worldwide Limited, a publicly traded travel technology company, from September 2014 until June 2019. Ms. Buse holds a B.A. in Spanish Linguistics from UCLA and a M.B.A. from University of California – Berkeley, Haas School of Business.
Mr. Combes rejoined the F5 board in October 2023. He previously served as a director from July 2018 to March 2021. Mr. Combes currently serves as Executive Vice President at Claure Group, a global entrepreneurial and investment firm. He served previously as Chief Executive Officer and as president of SoftBank Group International, from June 2020 to June 2022, and as President and Chief Executive Officer of Sprint from January 2018 until April 2020. His prior leadership roles also include Chief Executive Officer of Altice N.V., Chief Executive Officer of Alcatel-Lucent, Chief Executive Officer of Vodafone Europe, Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer of TDF Group, and Chief Financial Officer and Senior Executive Vice President of France Telecom. Mr. Combes currently serves as Director and Chair of the Audit Committee for Phillip Morris International, and as Director and Chair of the Nominations & Renumerations Committee for Etisalat. He is also a member of the Advisory Team for McLaren Racing Limited and serves on the boards of several private companies. Mr. Combes received a M.S. degree from École Polytechnique with a focus in engineering and a doctorate from Paris Dauphine University.
Michael Dreyer joined our board of directors in October 2012. Mr. Dreyer retired in 2019 as Chief Operations Officer for Silicon Valley Bank, a high-tech commercial bank. Previously, Mr. Dreyer served as Chief Operating Officer at Monitise, a technology leader in mobile banking. Prior to joining Monitise, he was the Chief Information Officer at Visa Inc. from July 2005 to March 2014 where he was responsible for the company’s systems and technology platforms. Before joining Visa Inc., he was Chief Information Officer of Inovant, where he oversaw the development and management of Visa’s global systems technology. Mr. Dreyer previously served as Senior Vice President of processing and emerging products, and Senior Vice President of commercial solutions at VISA USA. He also held senior positions at American Express, Prime Financial, Inc., Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Downey Savings, Bank of America, and the Fairmont Hotel Management Company. Mr. Dreyer serves as a director of II-IV Incorporated, a publicly held company that supplies engineered materials, optoelectronic components and optical systems solutions, and Deep Labs, a private company specializing in artificial intelligence and machine learning. Mr. Dreyer earned a M.B.A. and a B.A. in psychology from Washington State University.
Ms. Erwin joined the F5 board in October 2023. Ms. Erwin’s served as Executive Vice President and CEO of Verizon Business, a position she held from 2019 to 2022. Previously, she served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer from 2016 to 2019. Ms. Erwin began her career at Verizon in 1987 in customer service at what was then U.S. West. Her extensive career includes a progressive track record in leadership roles in all parts of Verizon including leading global sales and service for the company’s core businesses and serving as Chief Marketing Officer of Verizon Wireless. Ms. Erwin also played a key role in elevating Verizon’s reputation as a socially responsible company. She launched Women of Wireless and Women of the World, leadership training programs which helped to increase female leadership across the company. She also served as the executive sponsor of Verizon’s Veterans employee resource group, which provides programs and resources to more than 10,0000 veterans, active Reservists, National Guard, and military families. Ms. Erwin currently serves as a director for John Deere and York Space Systems. She also is a member of the advisory council of Aptiv, an operating partner with Digital Gravity Infrastructure, a member of the CEO Advisory Council for Cohesity, a Senior Fellow of Mission Possible Partnership, and a Champion in JOURNEY, a nonprofit that works to advance diversity at the top of the private sector. During her time at Verizon, Ms. Erwin completed the Executive Program at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Mr. Klein joined our board in 2015. He has almost 25 years of experience as a senior finance executive. He served as Chief Financial Officer of WME, a global leader in sports and entertainment marketing, from January 2014 until June 2014. Prior to that, he served as Chief Financial Officer of Microsoft Corporation from November 2009 until May 2013. Mr. Klein spent over 11 years at Microsoft, including roles as Chief Financial Officer of the Server and Tools and Microsoft Business Divisions. From 1990 until 2002 Mr. Klein held senior finance roles with McCaw Cellular Communications, Orca Bay Capital, Asta Networks and Homegrocer.com. He currently serves on the board of directors of Denali Therapeutics, a publicly traded biotechnology company, and Accolade, a publicly traded health care technology and services company. Through January 2019, he served on the board of directors of Apptio Inc., a publicly traded software company, and is a director to a number of private companies. Mr. Klein holds a B.A. from Yale University and a M.B.A. from the University of Washington.
François Locoh-Donou is F5’s President, Chief Executive Officer, and a member of the Board of Directors. He joined F5 in April 2017, bringing to the office nearly two decades of enterprise technology experience building a wide range of products, teams, and operations around the world. Locoh-Donou previously held successive leadership positions at Ciena, including Chief Operating Officer; Senior Vice President, Global Products Group; Vice President and General Manager, EMEA; Vice President, International Sales; and Vice President, Marketing. Prior to joining Ciena, he held research-and-development roles at Photonetics, a French opto-electronics company. Locoh-Donou serves on the board of Capital One Financial Corporation (NYSE: COF). He is also the co-founder and Chairman of Cajou Espoir, a social enterprise focused on cashew processing that employs several hundred people in rural Togo, 80 percent of whom are women. He holds engineering degrees from École Centrale de Marseille and Télécom ParisTech in France and a M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Nick Mehta joined F5’s Board in 2019. Mr. Mehta has been Chief Executive Officer of Gainsight, a leading customer success SaaS platform provider since February 2013. Prior to Gainsight, he served as Chief Executive Officer of LiveOffice, which was acquired by Symantec in January 2012. Before joining LiveOffice, Mr. Mehta served in several product management and engineering leadership roles at Symantec. Mr. Mehta also serves on the board of Lead Edge Growth Opportunities, Ltd. He holds a B.A. in Biochemical Sciences from Harvard College and a M.S. in Computer Science from Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
Michael Montoya joined F5’s Board in 2021. Mr. Montoya serves as Chief Information Security Officer at Equinix, a role he has held since October 2019. Previously, he served as Senior Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer at Digital Realty and in numerous leadership roles at Microsoft, including as Chief Cybersecurity Officer, Asia, where he led security initiatives and operations for the development and delivery of Microsoft cloud security products and services. Montoya also held leadership positions at FireEye, EMC Corporation, and Avanade Inc. He currently serves as an advisor for several early-stage security companies. Mr. Montoya earned a B.A. degree in Economics from the University of New Mexico and holds advisor roles for several early-stage security companies.
Sri Shivananda joined our Board in 2020. Mr. Shivananda is Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of PayPal Holdings, Inc., a global leader in digital payment technologies. Prior to PayPal, he served as Vice President, Global Platform and Infrastructure of eBay, Inc., a publicly traded global ecommerce company, from November 2013 until June 2015, and prior to that, in other positions during his 14-year tenure with eBay. Mr. Shivananda holds a Bachelor of Technology in Mechanical Engineering from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University in India, and a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Ohio University, Russ College of Engineering.
| Audit Committee | Risk Committee | Talent & Compensation Committee | Nominating and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Committee | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alan J. Higginson | ||||
| Marianne Budnik | ||||
| Elizabeth Buse | ||||
| Michel Combes | ||||
| Michael Dreyer | ||||
| Tami Erwin | ||||
| Peter Klein | ||||
| François Locoh-Donou | ||||
| Nick Mehta | ||||
| Michael Montoya | ||||
| Sri Shivananda |
