Career profile
Alex Ryals
Chief Information Security Officer and Senior Vice President of Solutions, MicroAge
- Current role, per sources checked 27 May 2025
- 8 January 2025
Alex Ryals is the Chief Information Security Officer and Senior Vice President of Solutions at MicroAge, appointed CISO in January 2025. In that role he leads both internal IT and cybersecurity functions as well as client-facing solution architect and delivery teams covering cybersecurity, cloud solutions, AI/data/automation, and professional and managed services.
Career path
Ryals built his technology career across global IT distributors, holding Americas and global vice president roles over the cybersecurity business at Avnet, Tech Data, and TD SYNNEX, where he was responsible for accelerating sales through a global partner ecosystem.
He then served as Global VP of Channel Sales at Ping Identity, where he focused on designing and selling identity security solutions through partners around the world.
Ryals joined MicroAge in August 2024 as Vice President of Cybersecurity Solutions and Strategy. In that role he led a team responsible for ensuring MicroAge client solutions included a comprehensive security component, and focused on growing the cybersecurity services business and revenue while supporting outside sales efforts.
MicroAge promoted him to Chief Information Security Officer in January 2025, with the company stating that as CISO he would work to strengthen security frameworks and safeguard client operations.
Ryals holds a Bachelor of Computer Science from Auburn University and has more than 25 years of experience in the technology sector, with a background spanning delivery services, solution architecture, sales, and leadership.
Remit and published work
As CISO, Ryals has written on governance, risk, and compliance for MicroAge's blog, arguing that modern GRC platforms have replaced fragmented, manual approaches to managing risk and regulatory obligations.
"While you may still be knee deep in what you're already doing, the truth is, I believe the days of spreadsheets and siloed tools for managing GRC are gone," Ryals wrote.
He has described modern GRC platforms as offering a unified, data-driven approach to risk and regulatory management that removes silos and redundant processes while giving organizations a fuller view of their risk posture.
MicroAge has described his cybersecurity expertise as spanning more than 20 years of work across the client, partner, distributor, and reseller sides of the technology ecosystem.