Immersive appoints new CPO & CTO to boost AI cybersecurity

Immersive has appointed Aniket Menon as Chief Product Officer and Thanos Karpouzis as Chief Technology Officer, strengthening its executive leadership team.

The appointments are intended to drive further development of Immersive One, the company's unified cyber readiness platform, and support the company's approach to equipping organisations to proactively manage cyber threats. The company stated these roles will reinforce its mission to help organisations "be ready" for cyber threats through its AI-powered, evidence-based framework known as Prove, Improve, Benchmark, and Report (PIBR).

Professional backgrounds

Aniket Menon brings more than 15 years of experience in cybersecurity, technology, and infrastructure. In his previous role as Vice President of Product at Rapid7, Menon was responsible for unifying the company's security operations platform and introducing products across exposure management, detection and response, and cloud security. His work aimed to create measurable improvements for enterprise security programmes.

Thanos Karpouzis also offers over 15 years of experience in the software industry. Before this appointment, he was Vice President of Engineering at Immersive. He previously held the position of Chief Technology Officer at CoachHub, where he launched Aimy, described as the first commercial AI leadership coach, expanding the company's personalised coaching capabilities. Prior roles included serving as an engineering lead at Babbel, where he contributed to transforming its learner apps product into the highest-grossing language-learning app globally, which received "Top Developer" and "Best Apps of the Year" distinctions from Google Play and the App Store.

Leadership commentary

Mark Schmitz, Chief Executive Officer of Immersive, commented on the appointments and their expected impact:

"Aniket and Thanos are visionary leaders who bring the expertise we need to accelerate Immersive One's technology and platform, ensuring organizations are prepared for whatever threats may arise. Their leadership will be pivotal as we scale our capabilities and expand our product portfolio to deliver solutions that help customers transform cybersecurity from a reactive necessity into a proactive, data-driven business function, equipping teams at every level to measure, improve, and prove their readiness."

The company confirmed that the arrival of Menon and Karpouzis is part of an effort to speed up advancements in features such as role-specific training, simulations, cyber ranges, and drills within Immersive One. These features are designed to help organisations protect their operations, demonstrate resilience to stakeholders, and adapt more quickly than evolving cyber threats.

How the platform works

Immersive One is described as a unified platform intended to support organisations in proving, improving, benchmarking, and reporting their cyber resilience. The platform is designed to assess whether technical teams, business leaders, and the broader workforce are adequately prepared for potential cyber incidents. It provides upskilling opportunities and exercises that benchmark readiness levels while also helping organisations address compliance requirements.

The platform gathers data and insights through these exercises, with the purpose of enabling leaders to improve individual skills using targeted programmes that are tailored based on performance data. Its Adaptive Intelligence Programmes are aligned with industry frameworks such as MITRE ATT&CK, aiming to ensure that organisations can produce reports to validate their cyber resilience. Immersive stated that this enables organisations to maintain readiness amid changing regulations, increased board oversight, or actual cyber attacks.

Immersive's approach emphasises making people-readiness a continual, evidence-based practice rather than a one-off activity. The company said its unified platform is intended to turn cybersecurity from a reactive requirement into an ongoing, data-driven function that supports all levels of staff.

Client and investor base

Immersive serves a range of large organisations and governments, including Citi, Pfizer, Humana, HSBC, the UK Ministry of Defence, and the UK National Health Service. The company is backed by investors such as Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Summit Partners, Insight Partners, Citi Ventures, Ten Eleven Ventures, and Menlo Ventures.