SentinelOne names Sonalee Parekh as new finance chief

SentinelOne has appointed Sonalee Parekh as Chief Financial Officer, with Barry Padgett remaining Interim CFO until she starts later this month.

Parekh will lead the company's global finance function, including financial planning and analysis, accounting, tax and treasury, internal audit, and investor relations. Padgett will stay in the interim role through SentinelOne's upcoming fiscal fourth-quarter and full-year earnings report, then hand over to Parekh.

The appointment comes as cybersecurity suppliers face shifting customer demand and greater scrutiny of margins and cash discipline. The sector has also sharpened its focus on artificial intelligence, with vendors embedding AI tools into prevention, detection, and response products.

Finance leadership

Parekh joins SentinelOne from work management software company Asana, where she served as CFO. She led the global finance organisation, drove profitability improvements, and supported financial planning for a multi-product strategy that included AI-related development.

Before Asana, she was CFO at RingCentral, overseeing finance during a period of scale-up. SentinelOne noted that RingCentral surpassed USD $2 billion in annual recurring revenue during her tenure, alongside margin improvements linked to tighter financial management.

Earlier in her career, Parekh held senior finance roles at Hewlett Packard Enterprise, including Divisional CFO and Head of Corporate Development and Investor Relations. Her background combines operational finance with capital markets and corporate development experience-skills often relevant for public software companies balancing growth targets, investment levels, and shareholder communications.

SentinelOne has framed the hire as part of a broader push towards profitability as it scales. The company develops cybersecurity software and sells its products to large organisations.

Market position

SentinelOne markets itself as an AI-native cybersecurity company. It sells the Singularity Platform, designed to detect, prevent, and respond to cyberattacks through automated processes.

The company says the platform covers endpoints, cloud workloads, containers, identities, generative AI, mobile devices, and network-connected devices. Across the sector, vendors have expanded product scope in recent years as customers seek fewer suppliers and more integrated security operations.

SentinelOne operates in a competitive market that includes large platform vendors and specialist security firms. Buyers have also pressed suppliers to demonstrate product consolidation, clearer return on investment, and stronger financial performance.

Management linked Parekh's appointment to both growth and financial discipline. Her experience with subscription software models-such as annual recurring revenue and margin management-aligns with metrics commonly used across publicly listed software companies.

Tomer Weingarten, Chief Executive Officer of SentinelOne, said the company was entering a new phase with the finance hire.

"Sonalee's proven track record of scaling global software organisations and driving financial discipline makes her the perfect fit to lead SentinelOne's next phase of profitable growth," Weingarten said.

He also acknowledged Padgett's role during the transition.

"Her arrival marks a significant milestone for our leadership team as we capitalise on the surging market demand for AI-native cybersecurity. I also want to thank Barry for his exceptional leadership and steady hand through this transition," he said.

Parekh described SentinelOne's positioning at the intersection of AI development and cyber risk.

"SentinelOne is uniquely positioned at the convergence of two powerful secular megatrends, AI and cybersecurity," Parekh said.

She said she would focus on growth, margin expansion, and investor communications.

"The company has built a differentiated AI-native platform and a strong financial foundation. I am excited to partner with Tomer and the leadership team to advance SentinelOne's mission, accelerate growth, expand margins, deepen investor engagement, and deliver sustained long-term value for our shareholders," she said.

Parekh is due to take up the CFO role later this month, with Padgett continuing as Interim CFO until then.