Kivu appoints former Big Four partner Shane Sims as CEO

Kivu, a Bay Area-based full-service cybersecurity consulting firm, has hired Shane Sims as chief executive officer.

Based in Washington, DC, Sims brings decades of experience in cybersecurity strategy, risk and compliance, forensics and response, and national security.

He joins the Kivu from KPMG US, where he spent the last six years as a partner focusing on cybersecurity strategy services. Before that, he spent eight years at PwC US, where he was a partner and built and led the consulting firm’s cybercrime and data breach response business.

Earlier in his career, Sims spent 11 years at the FBI, where he was a supervisory special agent responsible for building and leading a cyber offense team in support of counterterrorism, counterintelligence, and cybercrime matters.

He has a master’s degree in leadership from Duquesne University and a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Earlham College.

“Shane is a visionary with hard-core cybersecurity skills and a proven leader with the ability to bring people together,” Winston Krone, chief research officer and co-founder at Kivu. “We are fortunate to have someone of Shane's caliber and experience step up to lead Kivu as the company enters its next chapter of expanded innovation and growth."

John Garrison, the firm’s CFO, added that Sims has already in his first days as CEO redefined Kivu’s organization structure and streamlined the company into three divisions to “better align with market demand.”

Those core divisions are advisory services (strategic planning and technology implementation); managed services (24/7 monitoring, incident containment and management, and dark web scanning); and response (digital forensics and incident response, ransom support, and recovery).

"Kivu is one of the original pure-play cybersecurity consultancies that has battled cyber threats for thousands of organizations across the globe," Sims said. "Powered by a diverse, focused, and talented workforce, Kivu is well-positioned to uphold its mission to fight cybercrime and protect humanity.

Kivu has approximately 60 employees, according to LinkedIn, with offices in San Francisco, Denver, Dallas, Washington, DC, New York, and London. The firm is a cybersecurity partner to 60+ insurance carriers and works with organizations across all industries.