About Us

Melih Abdulhayoglu, CEO and founder of the Comodo companies, is an inventor, innovator and Internet security expert.

The Comodo Companies

Under Melih's direction, the Comodo companies have grown since 1998 to a worldwide presence acclaimed in the industry for innovation and trust. Today, the Comodo companies have used that success to build complementary product lines assuring financial growth and worldwide name recognition.

Industry Standards

Melih actively advocates higher standards throughout the security industry. As the originator of the Certification Authority Browser Forum (CA/B Forum), a consortium of Certificate Authorities and Internet browser providers, Melih brought industry leaders together to establish new authentication standards for Extended Validation (EV) SSL Certificates. Melih has also initiated the Common Computing Security Standards Forum (CCSS), a voluntary organization of security software vendors, operating system providers, and Internet browser software creators who are working together to mitigate the risk of malware and protect consumers worldwide.

In 2008, Melih's efforts to promote Internet security earned him the Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year® award in Information Technology Software for New Jersey. He is a frequent speaker on Internet security issues and has appeared as an expert on various media outlets, including Fox TV and USA Today.

Melih earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Electronic Engineering from Bradford University, United Kingdom.

In his role as chief financial officer, Michael Whittam manages the Comodo companies’ worldwide finances along with their accounting, financial analysis, treasury, tax, investor relations, and audits. He also plays a leading role in the facilities, operations, and HR teams.

Prior to joining Comodo in 1998, Michael developed a successful management consulting business in the United Kingdom which focused on assisting companies in a wide variety of industries, including technology startups.

Michael graduated in the United Kingdom with a BA (Hons) degree in accountancy and finance which was followed by a number of years in accountancy practices.

Robin Alden is the Chief Technical Officer of the Comodo CA Limited. Robin is responsible for overseeing Comodo CA's leadership as a certificate authority and is highly skilled in the area of PKI. He oversees all technical operations and industry-standard compliance for Comodo CA. He has extensive experience at developing and implementing global computer systems and solutions

Prior to joining Comodo in 2000, Robin held senior programming and technical positions with British Airways, CAPS and InfoSys.

He earned a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science & Electronics from the University of London, and a Masters of Science in Computer Science from the University of Manchester.

Beverley Daynes plays a leading role in Comodo's finances and driving the Comodo companies' strategies to attract and engage effective talent worldwide. 

In 2003, Beverley joined Comodo CA and relocated from the United Kingdom and established the Comodo companies' offices in the United States. Prior to Comodo, Beverley worked for Totalise plc as the group financial controller and played a key role in their public offering on the AIM market at the London Stock Exchange.

Beverley became an International Associate of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants in 2006. She was admitted as a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accounts in 2004 and qualified as a Chartered Certified Accountant in 1999.

Patricia Forsyth is responsible for leading Comodo's legal affairs. Before joining Comodo Group, Inc. in 2008, Patricia served as general counsel of Proformance Insurance Company, overseeing its legal affairs and providing counsel for the IPO of its parent holding company, National Atlantic Holdings Corporation. Her range of experience includes intellectual property protection, corporate governance and litigation.

Prior to her corporate positions, Patricia spent eleven years in private practice with New Jersey-based firms, first with Donington Karcher P.C. and later with Waters, McPherson, McNeill P.C.

Patricia holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Rutgers University (Douglas College) and a Juris Doctorate cum laude from Seton Hall University's School of Law. She is admitted to the Connecticut, District of Columbia and New Jersey Bars.

James Langman is responsible for identifying and developing Global strategic partnerships, alliances and OEM relationships. James provides key strategic leadership in defining Comodo's go-to-market strategy for partner programs across channel sales, OEM sales and strategic business alliance organizations.

Since joining Comodo CA in 2001, James has driven the development of Comodo's extensive partner network. Further, James has initiated and secured numerous successful technology relationships with some of the world’s largest organizations including software/hardware manufacturers, VARS and Internet Service Providers. Finally, James is a key contributor in Comodo's continuous innovation and development of Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) solutions.

Prior to Comodo, James held a senior sales position at Hays Plc a leading Global recruitment specialists where he was on focused on driving revenues through sales and field operations. James holds a Bachelor of Arts degree (with honours) in Business Management from Manchester Metropolitan University.

Andrew Pynes assisted Comodo as a sales and marketing consultant for five years prior to formally joining Comodo Group, Inc. in 2004 as Executive Vice President of Worldwide Sales & Marketing. Andrew has had over sixteen years of sales, marketing and management experience in the high technology industry. Prior to joining Comodo Group, he served as the sales & marketing executive with one of North Americas leading IT consulting/systems integration firm, Sierra Systems. Mr. Pynes' career also includes tenures with one of North Americas largest IT Value Added Reseller TIG (Technology Integration Group), a leading e-Commerce consulting firm, and an ERP implementation and custom application development firm.

Andrew holds a B.A. and graduated with honors from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Michael Fowler assists partners with establishing direct routes to the SSL certificate market, whether for Comodo's highly sought-after brand, through Comodo CA's OEM PKI CA Rootstore chaining program, or Comodo' OEM Sub-Intermediate CA program. Since joining Comodo CA in 2003, Michael has significantly expanded Comodo CA’s partner channel, including CDNs, Webhosts, Domain Name Registrars and Fortune 500 companies.

Before joining Comodo, Michael was a sales team manager J.D. Williams, an online merchant, where he was awarded "Salesman of the Year" in 2002.

Michael graduated in 1999 from Eden College, South Africa.

Rob Stradling joined Comodo in September of 1999 after graduating from the University of Leeds in United Kingdom with a BS degree in Computer Science and Music. Rob is the lead developer for Comodo CA and is an expert on PKI systems.

Rob is responsible for the design and development of all of Comodo CA's certificate software, including the online certificate status responder (OCSP Responder) and ordering platform. Rob is the inventor behind Comodo's patent-pending EV AUTO-Enhancer™ technology which allows EV Certificates to appear the first time a site is visited by IE7 users.

Umesh Gupta joined Comodo Security Solutions, Inc. in 2004 where he was appointed to lead the Comodo antivirus research initiative. Umesh has a Bachelor degree in Mathematics and a Masters in Computer Applications from Agra University, India. Prior to joining Comodo Umesh specialized in Touch Panel development for a Chicago based software company.

Egemen Tas is Comodo Security Solutions' lead architect for its line of desktop security products and their core components including firewall, antivirus, HIPS, and sandbox. In this role he is responsible for all phases of the product development cycle, from product planning, research, leading the development team, and also actively coding. Before joining Comodo Group Inc. in 2005, Egemen offered consulting and vulnerability research and development services to a number of well known security software companies, corporations and governments, with a major focus on firewalls and anti-dialer/anti-sniffer tools. Egemen is also a noted "white hat" (ethical hacker) whose tools are still used today in ethical hacking courses offered worldwide, including those offered by the SANS Institute.

Egemen holds a BS in Computer Science from Bogazici University in Istanbul, Turkey.

Shane McGillian is integral to Comodo's product innovations and is the inventor of several pending patents.

Shane has nearly two decades' experience in software development.  He joined Comodo CA in 1999. Before working for Comodo, Shane worked as a systems administrator and as a software engineering team leader for several power generation companies in the UK where he designed and implemented their remote monitoring tools of industrial machinery.

Shane has a Bachelor of Science degree in Computing – Software Engineering from Leeds Metropolitan University in the United Kingdom.

Christopher Morcella is responsible for strategic planning and developing of IT projects for the Comodo companies.

Prior to joining Comodo Group, Inc. in 2006, Christopher was a Senior Developer for HBOS, Plc (now Lloyds Banking Group) the largest retail bank in the United Kingdom and an IT Consultant for PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Christopher graduated with a class 2:1 MEng (Hons) in Integrated Engineering with Industrial Management from the University of Liverpool, England, United Kingdom.

Paul Lee is the Director of IT for Comodo. He has 9 years in the industry and is responsible for strategic planning and management of Comodo's global IT estate. He has considerable experience developing and implementing secure worldwide enterprise networks.

Paul is an active member of industry guiding organisations such as the Internet Society (ISOC), involving Comodo in the push for IPV6 adoption in 2011 and is also a member of the New Jersey Technology Council (NJTC), where he advocates good practice in the field of Internet security to local companies.

Prior to joining Comodo CA Ltd. in 2008 and then Comodo Group, Inc. in 2009, Paul oversaw technical operations for Energis Communications and managed the IT for Thermos in the Uk.

Born in Liverpool, Merseyside, he earned a Bachelor of Science in Computer Networking from the Metropolitan University of Leeds.