"Joe is an industry visionary who picks winners and has led or advised some of the world's most innovative and successful cybersecurity brands," said Aqua CEO and co-founder Dror Davidoff.

"Joe's background and experience will be instrumental in differentiating Aqua Security from the noise in the market, and I'm eager to see how he will help take us to the next level."

Sexton served on another security company's board between March 2015 and January 2022, and was on PagerDuty's advisory board between 2017 and 2020.

He previously held senior executive roles at AppDynamics, McAfee, Mercury Interactive and Computer Associates.

He is also on the boards of DecisionLink, Menlo Security, D2iQ, BrainBox Intelligent Marketing, and is an investor and advisor with venture capital firms including Accel, Menlo, March Capital and Artisanal Ventures.

Sexton holds a BBA from the University of Kentucky.

"I've had the honour of working with some of the most disruptive technologies and security firms during my career, but I've never been more excited about the potential of a company like Aqua. Cloud native security is the future of cybersecurity, and Aqua is the future of cloud native," said Sexton.

"As the cloud native security market explodes, Aqua Security is clearly at the forefront.

"Many vendors just provide visibility or compliance, but preventing and protecting from a breach in production is the holy grail. Aqua is the only player with the technology to do both, and I'm thrilled to join them for this journey."