Ron and Cyndi Gula
Ron and Cyndi Gula, the founders of Gula Tech Adventures, have decades of experience starting and running cybersecurity companies, including Tenable Network Security. In building Gula Tech Adventures, they have broadened their team with deep experience from industry and government, to help guide investments, philanthropy, and cyber advocacy.
Ron Gula
President
Since 2017, GTA has invested in dozens of cyber start-ups and funds and supported multiple cyber nonprofits and projects. Ron has served on the Board of Directors for a number of GTA’s portfolio companies and has been a steadfast mentor and advisor to many founders. Ron has also supported a variety of cyber nonprofits and think tanks, with both his substantive expertise and through philanthropic funding.
From 2002 to 2016, Ron was the co-founder and CEO of Tenable Network Security. Under Ron’s leadership, Tenable grew to 20,000 customers, raised $300m in venture capital, and grew revenues to $100 million annually; this positioned the company for a successful IPO in 2018, where it was valued at $3 billion.
Prior to founding Tenable, Ron was a cyber industry pioneer. Ron developed Dragon, one of the first commercial network intrusion detection systems, and he also ran risk mitigation for one of the first cloud companies. While serving as a US Air Force officer, Ron deployed network honeypots in the mid 90s for the US Defense Department (DOD) and served as a penetration tester at the National Security Agency (NSA), participating in some of the nation's first cyber exercises.
For these efforts, in 2023 Ron was inducted into the Cybersecurity Hall of Fame, received a Gold Medal Order of Thor from the Military Cyber Professionals Association and received a Lifetime Achievement award from SANS.
Cyndi Gula
Managing Partner
Since 2017, GTA has invested in dozens of cyber start-ups and funds and supported multiple cyber nonprofits and projects. As GTA’s Managing Partner, she helps our cyber start-ups scale and make important decisions about organizational structure, facilities, product licensing, customer support, recruiting strategy, culture, managing their cash flow, and having the processes in place to succeed and have fun. Cyndi also serves on the Board of Directors and Advisory Boards for GTA portfolio companies including OnSights and Surefire Cyber as well as some of the nonprofits we support.
Cyndi is a cyber start-up operations expert. She previously started and run licensing, human resources, legal, facilities, accounting, marketing, channel, support and sales operations for both Tenable Network Security, which has a successful IPO in 2018, and Network Security Wizards, where she was President and helped it grow to a successful exit 18 months after being founded.
In addition to serving as an industry leader, Cyndi is also heavily involved in the Howard County, MD community. She serves as the Chair of the Howard County Economic Development Authority Board, a Commissioner for the Howard County Equal Business Opportunity Commission, as a Trustee for Howard County General Hospital: A Member of Johns Hopkins Medicine, and on the board of the Howard County Conservancy.
In 2023, Cyndi was awarded a Gold Medal Order of Thor by the Military Cyber Professionals Association and later that year was also named as a NEW Power Women of DC Tech by DCA Live.