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Tera Davis knew a thing or two about CyberOne Security when she assumed CEO responsibilities in July 2023. She had founded the company that would eventually spin off CyberOne thirteen years earlier. But why, after all this time, did Davis decide she was ready to run the company?
To answer that question, you need to know more about Davis. The tech leader has been in cybersecurity since 1999, back when it was just called network security. When she became pregnant with the first of two children, she elected to stay home to raise her family. About eight years later, her then husband decided to quit his job and start a company with her: Critical Start, which later spun off CyberOne Security.
“There is a deep-rooted history here,” the CEO and founder explains. “Critical Start was founded as a value-added resale and consulting services organization and eventually became a managed detection and response (MDR) company. In 2021, we decided to spin out the resale and consulting services part of our business, and we called it CyberOne Security.”
“There’s a mistake that a lot of women make: they don’t think it’s OK to be vulnerable at work. In my experience, being vulnerable lets people know that you’re passionate and really care.”
Tera Davis
Davis agreed to take on the CEO role for CyberOne after spending time in the global CEO peer advisory and executive coaching organization Vistage. She began attending meetings in 2021. Although she was already a cybersecurity expert, Davis wanted to learn more about business, her leadership skill set, and what it meant to lead an organization.
“Vistage led me to the moment where I decided that becoming CEO of CyberOne was the best way for us to continue moving ahead and, ideally, grow into something larger than we are now,” Davis explains. “An outsider just didn’t make as much sense as someone who knows this organization inside and out.”
The CEO has learned many hard lessons in the last year and a half, but the most important one is that she shouldn’t be afraid to hire people who are much smarter than she is, at least by her account. Time and time again throughout her career, Davis has seen leaders who refused to hire experts because they wanted to be an expert in all things. It’s not how Davis is built, and she says she’s happy to feel like the dumbest person in the room. She’s not, but that vulnerability is a critical part of her own leadership.
“There’s a mistake that a lot of women make: they don’t think it’s OK to be vulnerable at work,” Davis explains. “They think they have to show this tough exterior for men to take them seriously. In my experience, being vulnerable lets people know that you’re passionate and really care. Walk into that room with the understanding that everyone is unique.”
The CEO is a woman in a historically male-dominated industry. But Davis got her start selling industrial controls equipment, an industry she jokes was even more male than cybersecurity. Since 1999, Davis has watched more women join the cybersecurity industry and assume leadership positions, though true equity is still a long way off.
“An outsider as CEO just didn’t make as much sense as someone who knows this organization inside and out.”
Tera Davis
When sourcing talent, Davis employs a “right person for the right job” approach. And her standards are high. “I interview every person who’s hired here because the culture of CyberOne is so important to who we are,” the CEO says. “We’ve hired twenty people in the last twelve months and it’s important for me to know that they’re going to fit in. We have had some attrition, but most of that attrition was politely suggested by us.”
Davis says with the right culture, people are willing to go the extra mile because they believe in the company. It’s not about squeezing more out of people—it’s about building the kind of culture where people are excited to be part of growth. But creating that culture, the CEO says, can be like stacking a house of cards if done incorrectly.
“I don’t know if you’ve ever actually tried to build a house of cards,” the CEO says with a grin. “But if you don’t get that foundation right, you are in big trouble. For us, that foundation is ensuring you have the right people at the right levels so that when it’s time to grow quickly, you’re not faltering.”
In the coming years, Davis says she wants CyberOne to expand its footprint, both geographically and in terms of clientele. New professional service offerings will support that growth.
It’s a big moment for Davis and the company she founded and now leads. She’s gotten there by being herself: vulnerable but willing to speak up. The house she built has a concrete foundation.
