Bill Conner

Bill (F. William) Conner

Alma mater	Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania Princeton University
Occupation	Chief executive officer
Website
Entrust website

F. William "Bill" Conner is an American business executive with Entrust. Conner is involved in business and public-private initiatives that are building coalitions to protect information and online infrastructures in the United States and internationally. On a corporate level, he is a proponent of elevating information security to the corporate governance level.^[1]

Education and personal life

Conner was born and reared in West Helena, Arkansas. In his early years, he displayed "an interest in energy conversion".^[2]

In 1981, he received his bachelor’s degree from Princeton University in mechanical engineering and later earned an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1987. Currently, he lives in Dallas, Texas with his wife.

Career

From 1981 to 1992, Conner held positions at AT&T including senior engineer, operations manager and strategic planner.^[3]

Conner held executive positions at Nortel Networks from 1992 to 2001. As the President of Enterprise Data Networks for Nortel, he managed its $9.1 billion (US) acquisition of Bay Networks. He also served as the first Chief Marketing Officer of Nortel, launching the global marketing campaigns “Come Together” and “What Do You Want the Internet to Be?”^[4]

Conner speaking on global cybersecurity before the INTERPOL 79th General Assembly in Doha, Qatar, November 2010.

Entrust

Conner is the Chief Executive Officer and President of Entrust, a private software company that specializes in identity-based security. Conner is responsible for the creation and delivery of identity-based security software and services.^[5] Entrust grew to profitability (albeit short due to its early focus on growth) and reached annual sales of well over $100m by the time of arrival of Connor to the firm in 2001. Connor shortly thereafter launched a restructuring effort and began to trim workforce annually in an effort to return the company to profitability. He launched a new business model focusing on product portfolios targeted to key verticals and geographies.^[6]

Conner engineered the company’s acquisition by private equity firm Thoma Bravo in 2009,^[7] and transitioned Entrust into a private firm. In December 2013, it was announced that Datacard Group had entered into an agreement to purchase Entrust for a reported $500 Million. Conner will take on a consultant role. ^[8]

Silent Circle

On January 5, 2015, Silent Circle announced that its Board of Directors appointed Conner as Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Directors effective immediately.^[9] As CEO of Silent Circle, Conner will also join the Board of Directors of Blackphone.^[10]

Cybersecurity and infrastructure global trends

Conner has been active in various public-private partnerships on cybersecurity, cybertheft and infrastructure security. He helped unveil the INTERPOL Global Smart eID Card and addressed the United Nations on global challenges in cybercrime in June 2010 ^[11] He co-chaired the Corporate Governance Task Force of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security National Cybersecurity Partnership ^[12] He has been a member of the Business Software Alliance ^[13] and the Cyber Security Industry Alliance(now a branch of TechAmerica technology trade association) ^[14] He created and co-chaired the Information Security Governance Task Force of the Business Software Alliance ^[15] He is a member of the Enterprise Software Roundtable ^[16]

In February 2012, Conner took part in a United States House of Representatives committee on Energy and Commerce hearing to discuss cybersecurity threats facing the US and the role of public-private partnerships play in defense.^[17] Conner has recently spent time discussing the effects of spear phishing schemes on weak authentication, notably the rash of attacks on media outlets, and the risks of insider threats.^[18]^[19]^[20]

Publications

"Viewpoint: U.K. Breach a Precautionary Tale for U.S.," American Banker, December 2007 ^[21]
"Cybersecurity: Business Has to Enlist in This War" (co-author), guest opinion column, New York Times, Nov. 17, 2003 ^[22]
"Vulnerability on the Cyber Front," co-author with Ret. Gen. Wesley Clark, Washington Times, Aug. 19, 2002 ^[23]
"Dallas company arms Interpol in cyber wars, " Dallas Morning News, Cheryl Hall (author) Nov. 2, 2011 ^[24]
"Securing digital Identities: Separating Fact From Fiction in Mobile Security," Texas CEO Magazine, March 2013 ^[25]

Awards

A local Memphis paper Press Scimiter, named Bill Conner as "Teenager of the Year" in 1977.^[26]