AUSTIN, Texas—January 26, 2021—ALTR,  provider of advanced data security for data-driven enterprises, has added key posts to support the company’s growth and momentum in the expanding market for cloud-native data security solutions. The growing team now includes a newly created executive position, vice president of marketing and a vice president of alliances and channel.  

As vice president of marketing Dean Cruse brings more than 30 years of expertise in managing marketing strategy and operations in high-growth organizations to his new role at ALTR. He will drive marketing activities and contribute to the overall strategy in support of ALTR’s cloud-native service for governing and protecting data. Thomas St. Onge, a veteran channel and alliances professional with global experience defining reseller, referral and technology partnerships, will support global alliances and channel business focused on technical alliances such as Snowflake, AWS, Tableau, Domo as well as channel partners, OEMs, and global and regional system integrators (SIs).  

“Both Dean and Thomas bring tremendous experience and a track record of positioning innovative companies for growth and guiding strategies that drive momentum and ramp businesses to scale,” said David Sikora, CEO at ALTR. “These software industry veterans bring a wealth of experience that will accelerate our momentum, best serve our partners and help us develop the burgeoning industry for ALTR’s multiple patent-issued, cloud-based data security solutions.”

Cruse and St. Onge have experience carving out territory for innovative SaaS offerings such as ALTR. Through its Data-Security-as-a-Service (DSaaS) platform, ALTR is providing a unique approach to governing data consumption for modern, data-driven enterprises. As more organizations move their data infrastructure to the cloud, the need to govern the way in which enterprise data is used and consumed by applications is accelerating. With their experience in establishing growth engines for new market categories, Cruse and St. Onge will help ALTR expand visibility, develop new partnerships and channels to grow its lead.

“I am thrilled to join the ALTR team and contribute to the growth of this important category. As modern organizations are increasingly moving their data infrastructure to the cloud, the need for observability and control over data consumption has never been greater,” said Dean Cruse, ALTR vice president of marketing.  

“ALTR has an exceptional team in place that is poised to transform how businesses secure and govern their data. As enterprises are re-platforming at the data-layer and looking to secure data as the new endpoint, I am looking forward to helping further relationships with the providers in this space, building on the ALTR’s momentum and amplifying its growth,” said Thomas St. Onge, ALTR vice president of alliances and channel.

Dean Cruse

Vice President, Marketing

Prior to joining ALTR, Cruse held the vice president of marketing role at conversation analytics SaaS company Tethr where he drove awareness of the company and established it as a market leader. Previously, Cruse built and led the sales and marketing teams for Union Metrics, a provider of social media analytics and listening software, prior to their acquisition by digital PR provider TrendKite. Before Union Metrics, Cruse built and ran the marketing team as vice president marketing for Zenoss, a leading provider of hybrid cloud IT operations and monitoring software.  A start-up veteran, he has held the top marketing and sales executive positions for six other B2B SaaS companies and serves as a mentor and advisor for early-stage companies in the Austin Texas area. Dean received his BBA in Marketing from Texas A&M University and completed the Marketing Management Program at Stanford Graduate School of Business.  

Thomas St. Onge

Vice President, Alliances and Channel

Prior to ALTR Thomas St. Onge was the head of strategic alliances at Snaplogic where he was responsible for global service integrators, technology partners, worldwide digital and business transformation service providers and AI/ML/Big Data evolution specialists. In past roles for Altair and Exinda he was responsible for direct OEM and channel influenced revenue with the global field sales team. Previously St. Onge was Vice President, Business Development at Mashery and Hubspan, where he developed, implemented and managed the partner go-to-market strategy, leading worldwide channel sales teams to a 300% increase in channel revenue over two years. His expertise spans over 15 years of experience developing, executing and managing strategic alliances and partners within the cloud infrastructure as-a-service and SaaS applications marketplace. He holds an Air Traffic Control certification from the Department of Defense/FAA and studied Professional Aeronautics at Embry-Riddle University.