This past Friday, April 19, the University of South Florida (USF) College of Engineering recognized individuals and organizations who have greatly impacted USF and beyond at its ninth annual Engineering Honors Awards at The Armature Works in Tampa. I had the honor of joining my colleagues, including Rapid7 CEO, Corey Thomas, who accepted the Corporate Impact Award on behalf of the company.

The Corporate Impact Award is among the highest and most prestigious recognitions given by the College of Engineering. It recognizes Rapid7’s significant contributions to the College and its students. Receiving this award is incredibly gratifying for the Rapid7 Labs team as well as the greater Rapid7 organization.

In February 2023, the Rapid7 Cybersecurity Foundation invested in USF to create the Rapid7 Cyber Threat Intelligence Lab. Furthermore, Rapid7 is actively working with a multi-disciplinary team at USF to research and develop training to better educate students for taking SOC roles, funded by the National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research.

Equally important has been Rapid7’s enthusiasm for directly working with researchers, professors, and students. Our Open Data Initiative provides real-world data derived from internet scans and honeypot data. We support research into training future SOC professionals by exposing them to teams working to protect our networks. A significant number of our teammates in Rapid7’s Tampa office are graduates from University of South Florida, a trend we aim to continue.

The future of Rapid7 and USF is bright, especially with the recent announcement of the formation of the College of AI and Cybersecurity at University of South Florida.

Rapid7 would like to not only thank the USF College of Engineering for recognizing our efforts in supporting the College, but more importantly, we want to thank them for being a great partner in driving research in the cybersecurity field as well as working alongside us to train the next generation of professionals. The future of cybersecurity depends on helping today’s students gain the tools they need to be successful, an area where University of South Florida excels.

Congratulations to Rapid7’s Vice President of Global Channel Sales, Alex Page, who is named among the newly-announced CRN 2024 Channel Chiefs!

Alex, who also received this prestigious accolade in 2023, has been recognized for his outstanding contributions and expertise in driving strategic initiatives and shaping the channel agenda for both Rapid7 and the wider partner community.

The Channel Chiefs list, released annually by CRN, showcases the top leaders throughout the IT channel ecosystem who work tirelessly to ensure mutual success with their partners and customers.

"These channel evangelists are dedicated to supporting solution providers and achieving growth by implementing robust partner programs and unique business strategies," said Jennifer Follett, VP, US Content, and Executive Editor, CRN, at The Channel Company.

"Their efforts are instrumental in helping partners bring essential solutions to market. The Channel Company is pleased to acknowledge these prominent channel leaders and looks forward to chronicling their achievements throughout the year."

Under Alex’s leadership, Rapid7 has matured its channel approach to create a win-win-win scenario for all parties — most importantly, the end customer. This includes an obsessive focus on “being easy to do business with" for both partners and customers, and empowering our partners to participate in the full customer journey with us.

In Alex’s words: “Focus matters. You cannot try to be all things to all people, in general – but this very much applies to the channel. Find the partners who best fit your goals as a company, and can help make your customers most successful, and go deep with a small group of them. Your focus will drive more results. Your focus will also be very much felt and appreciated by the partner.”

We are proud to have Alex leading the charge, and of this recognition, which reinforces Rapid7’s commitment to excellence, innovation, and strong partnerships.

Learn more about Rapid7 global partnerships here.