Tech + Science

Entrepreneur of the Year 2024: Absolute Security CEO Christy Wyatt is locked in on her goals

Absolute Security’s technology works to guard customers data on a large scale

By Dani Wright /

THE KICKOFF: Christy Wyatt started her career as a software developer in Newfoundland, but in the mid-’90s she moved to California and found herself in the middle of Silicon Valley’s tech boom.

Wyatt was only meant to be on the West Coast for 18 months, but she ended up staying for 30 years, working for some of the biggest names in the tech space—like Apple, Palm and Motorola. All of that led her to cybersecurity firm Absolute Security, where she became CEO six years ago this November.

ACTION PLAN: Absolute, which recently moved its headquarters from Vancouver to Seattle—though Vancouver still remains its largest office and development site—is prolific in its reach. “The unique thing about Absolute is that we work with all the PC manufacturers around the world and embed a little piece of technology into the hardware itself,” says Wyatt, who notes that the technology can’t be disabled. And, Wyatt adds, because of where the software lives, if there’s a problem, they can “fix it without the user or IT needing to do anything.”

Since Wyatt has come onboard, Absolute has transitioned into being part of the public cloud—in other words, customers can access its services through a standard internet connection. Though the company’s product has always been a cloud-hosted solution (meaning, the company does not have support staff working at clients’ premises), moving onto the public cloud  meant changing its architecture fundamentally, so that “the customers could have a lot more  flexibility about where they would want their data,” Wyatt explains.

CLOSING STATEMENT: While moving onto the public cloud opened new opportunities, Wyatt points out that those avenues aren’t just “new customers and new international markets, but new verticals.” This provided a pathway toward gaining the necessary certifications to participate in more heavily regulated spaces where security requirements are even higher. It has worked out—Absolute is in the process of finalizing its FedRAMP designation, which will eventually allow the company to become a supplier to the U.S. federal government.

Q+A

What’s an odd job you’ve had?

Probably the most fun part-time job I had in high school was working in hair salons. I apprenticed for a master stylist.