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Dave Bowden
Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) - CISM, CDPSE, CIPT, CIPM, CSM, CWD, CWP | CyberSecurity | Artificial Intelligence | Global Data Privacy | Enterprise IT | Compliance | GRC | Start-Up & Board Advisor | Mentor
Professional Background
Dave Bowden's inspiring journey in technology and information security has root beginnings in his childhood aspirations and has blossomed into a successful career marked by substantial achievements. At just nine years old, he dreamed of working with NASA, a dream he famously saw come to fruition at eighteen when a project he designed flew aboard Space Shuttle Discovery. This remarkable feat was just the starting point of a richly diverse career in technology, architecture, and security.
His tech journey began in 1979 with a TRS 80 Model I at Radio Shack, illustrating a lifelong attraction to technology from an early age. By the time he reached high school, he had merged his passions for technology and architecture, leading to an early role as a System Administrator at Texas Tech University. Following the completion of his Bachelor’s in Architecture from Texas Tech University, Bowden made a pivotal decision to shift toward technology amidst the economic downturn of the early ’90s. In 1992, he founded Puzzled Software, marking the start of an entrepreneurial chapter that would see him thrive in many of the industry’s top companies.
With over 34 years of expansive experience, including a Master’s Degree in Computer Information Systems and numerous certifications, Dave has made significant contributions to leading tech organizations including Symantec, Amazon, Riot Games, and Frontdoor. His specialties span software and web application development, information security, and creating highly available, fault-tolerant systems.
In recent years, Bowden has sharpened his focus on information security, cybersecurity, and compliance/GRC, building a robust portfolio that resonates within these critical fields. Currently, he serves as the Chief Information Security Officer at Frontdoor, overseeing data security and advocating for privacy rights for over 2 million customers, while also managing the implementation of secure AI systems. His role encompasses a vast range of responsibilities aimed at protecting sensitive information in today's digital age.
Education and Achievements
Dave Bowden pursued a comprehensive academic background that laid the foundation for his illustrious career. He obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture & Design from Texas Tech University, which not only complemented his technological aspirations but also provided a unique perspective on design and structure in both physical and virtual landscapes. Later, he earned his Master’s Degree in Computer Information Systems from the University of Phoenix, enhancing his technical skills and understanding of information technology systems.
Continuing his pursuit of knowledge, Bowden furthered his education through Executive Education at Rice Business - Jones Graduate School of Business, where he gained valuable insights into leadership and management. Additionally, he studied Artificial Intelligence at the prestigious MIT Sloan School of Management, ensuring he remains at the cutting edge of technology and innovation.
Dave’s commitment to personal and professional development is evident through his completion of professional training and development programs, enriching his skill set in technology and information security.
Notable Positions
Throughout his career, Bowden has held several significant positions that highlight his expertise and leadership in the tech and information security sectors. He was previously the Chief Information Security Officer at Frontdoor, leading cyber security initiatives and compliance efforts. Prior to that, he served as Vice President of IT and GRC at Zwift, where he oversaw information security and data privacy protocols. His leadership journey also includes a critical role as Director of Information Security, Compliance, and Corporate IT at Riot Games, a globally recognized gaming company, where he was responsible for managing a plethora of data compliance and security programs.
His earlier career is marked by remarkable positions at industry giants such as Amazon and Symantec, where he was a Senior Development Manager focusing on consumer products and global payments. His diverse roles have equipped him with a multifaceted understanding of software development, security, and comprehensive technology program management.
Achievements
Dave Bowden's career is a tapestry of recognitions and contributions, where he has consistently influenced the fields of cybersecurity and information technology. He has been an advocate for global privacy rights, demonstrating a commitment to protecting individual data in an interconnected world. His strategic insight in overseeing secure AI implementations positions him as a forward-thinking leader ready to address the challenges of tomorrow's cybersecurity landscape.
As an esteemed member of various organizations, including his role as a CISO Advisor at Tola Capital, and his previous involvement with the CyberEdBoard Community, Bowden has shared his knowledge with peers and influenced up-and-coming professionals in the cybersecurity space. His breadth of experience, from technical roles to executive positions, showcases his adaptability and comprehensive skill set, making him a sought-after thought leader in the technology community.
Conclusion
Dave Bowden's illustrious career trajectory showcases his unwavering commitment to advancing technology and ensuring data security. With a rich background in architecture and computing, he has effectively bridged the gap between design and technology. As a prominent figure in information security and compliance, he continues to lead by example, advocating for best practices in the tech industry while inspiring future generations to dream big and cultivate their passions.
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Clay is a relationship management platform that serves as a personal CRM, helping you organize and deepen both personal and professional relationships. It functions as a beautiful rolodex and CRM available on iPhone, Mac, Windows, and web, built automatically to help manage your network efficiently. Unlike traditional address books, Clay centralizes all your contacts in one place while enriching them with additional context and features to help you stay thoughtful and connected.
Clay works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Clay offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
- Network Strength: Visualizes the strength of your relationships relative to others in your network
- Timeline: Shows your relationship history with each contact
- Smart Search: Allows you to search using natural language like "People I know at the NYT" or "Designers I've met in London"
- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
- Home Feed: Displays updates about your network including job changes, news mentions, and birthdays
- Groups: Organizes contacts into meaningful categories
- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Clay is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Clay is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Clay as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Clay offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Clay takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Clay encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Clay work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Clay is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Clay is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Clay is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Clay offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Clay offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Clay for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Clay accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Clay offers extensive integration capabilities. Clay introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Clay supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Clay also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
Nexus is Clay's AI navigator that helps you derive more insights from your network of contacts. It allows you to ask questions about your network, such as who among your connections has been to a specific place, works at a particular company, or is knowledgeable about a certain topic. Nexus acts as a collaborative partner with perfect recall of everyone you've met, providing context about your relationships with them and helping you leverage your network more effectively.
Clay makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Clay's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Clay is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Clay stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Clay excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Clay is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Clay offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Clay's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Clay has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Clay is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Clay beneficial.
Clay offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Clay offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Clay's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Clay offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Clay focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Clay also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Clay offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Clay isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Clay instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Clay is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Clay can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Clay is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Clay's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Clay has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Clay a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Clay's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Clay's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Clay has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Clay's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Clay as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Clay eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.