Mark D. McLaughlin became vice chairman of the board of directors for Palo Alto Networks in June 2018, following his retirement as the company's chief executive officer and chairman of the board. Mark joined the company as president and chief executive officer in 2011 and became chairman in 2012. Prior to that, he held a number of key positions at Verisign, including serving as chief operating officer, executive vice president of Products and Marketing, and head of the company's Naming Services business. Prior to Verisign, he was the vice president of Sales and Business Development for Signio, a leading internet payment company. Before joining Signio, he was the vice president of Business Development for Gemplus, the world's leading smart-card company. Previous to Gemplus, he also served as general counsel of Caere Corporation and practiced law as an attorney with Cooley Godward Kronish LLP.

For nearly a decade, Mark has had the honor of serving as a member of the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee, a body that for more than 30 years has brought industry chief executives together to provide counsel on national security policy and technical issues to the U.S. president and the national security leadership. Mark has served two-year terms as chairman and vice chairman of the NSTAC. He received his J.D., magna cum laude, from Seattle University School of Law and his B.S. degree from the United States Military Academy at West Point. He served as an attack helicopter pilot in the U.S. Army and earned his Airborne Wings. Mark currently also serves on the board of directors for Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM).