Virtru Appoints Angel Smith and John Dancy to Executive Leadership Team
New hires from Microsoft and AWS position Virtru to scale delivery of data-centric security solutions in 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C., Jan. 20, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Virtru, the leader in data-centric security, today announced the appointments of two senior leaders to its executive team: Angel Smith as President of Global Public Sector and John Dancy as Executive Vice President of Customer Solutions and Engineering. Together, they will play key roles in continuing Virtru’s growth and expanding adoption of its data-centric security platform across commercial and government markets.
Smith will lead go-to-market strategy and customer success for Virtru’s global public sector business, working to further establish Virtru’s Data Security Platform as the data-centric security standard across the Department of War, Intelligence Community, coalition partners, and the broader national security ecosystem. Dancy will oversee all post-sale delivery of the platform across both public sector and commercial markets, including deployment, solutions architecture, field engineering, training, and support—ensuring customers can operationalize data protection at scale and achieve measurable mission outcomes.
“Angel and John give us exactly the leadership combination we need at this stage of Virtru’s growth,” said John Ackerly, CEO and Co-Founder of Virtru. “Angel brings deep experience and strategic insight across the federal tech community, and John has built and scaled some of the most effective customer delivery organizations in the world. Their skills and expertise will help to ensure that, as demand for data-centric security grows, Virtru is positioned to deliver consistently, operate effectively, and create lasting value for our customers.”
Smith joins Virtru from Microsoft, where she most recently served as Vice President, Americas Worldwide Public Sector and Global Defense and Intelligence, leading public sector sales and driving global growth in the defense sector. She previously led Microsoft’s Mission Solutions and Customer Expansion organization, managing a 150+ person cross-functional team delivering custom Azure workloads—including AI/ML and hyperscale cloud solutions—into sovereign, air-gapped, and classified environments across the DoD, Intelligence Community, Five Eyes, and AUKUS partners.
Prior to Microsoft, Smith served as a Senior Professional Staff Member on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, where she oversaw Department of Defense military intelligence programs and played a key role in early DoD cloud migration efforts. She also had a 23-year career in the U.S. Marine Corps, rising from enlisted electronics technician to KC-130 pilot and detachment commander.
“Virtru is solving one of the hardest and most urgent problems facing the public sector today: how to protect sensitive data as it inevitably travels outside of the perimeter,” said Smith. “The platform, the mission, and the team all deeply resonate with me, and I’m excited to help scale Virtru’s impact across the national security community and with global partners.”
Dancy most recently served as Chief Transformation Officer at Nightwing, where he led enterprise transformation and technology strategy. Before that, he spent five years at Amazon Web Services as Global Director of Professional Services for Worldwide Public Sector. During his tenure, he scaled the business to operate in over 30 countries and built specialized practices in AI/ML and Data Science, serving national governments, space and satellite, aerospace and defense, and healthcare customers. His team led the development of the Landing Zone Accelerator on AWS, significantly reducing cloud deployment timelines and improving their regulatory security compliance obligations.
“Virtru is redefining how organizations protect and control sensitive data in motion, and I’m thrilled to be part of the team at this pivotal moment,” said Dancy. “My priority is ensuring that Virtru’s customers can deploy, operate, and scale the Data Security Platform in ways that create real, lasting value in their environments.”
Smith and Dancy’s respective experience and talent will empower Virtru to expand in 2026. Their appointments reinforce Virtru’s focus on scaling with intention—driving adoption of its Data Security Platform while maintaining the operational rigor required to support sustainable growth.
About Virtru
Virtru empowers organizations to unlock the power of data while maintaining control wherever it's stored and shared. Trusted by over 6,000 organizations across the public and private sectors—including JPMorganChase, Equifax, Capital One, Salesforce, and the U.S. Department of Defense—Virtru’s Data Security Platform has created a new paradigm in data-centric security, where protection travels with the data itself rather than relying on traditional perimeter defenses. From global enterprises to national defense and intelligence agencies, Virtru’s award-winning solutions provide simple, powerful data-centric security, built on the Trusted Data Format (TDF), an open standard for data protection created by Virtru Co-Founder and Chief Architect Will Ackerly.
Contact
Nick Michael (nick.michael@virtru.com)
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Angel Smith Headshot
Angel Smith
John Dancy Headshot
John Dancy
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