Peter Liebert

Peter Liebert is the Chief Information Security Officer of Clari + Salesloft, appointed in February 2026.

He reports directly to CEO Steve Cox. In this role he leads a unified security strategy that brings together security programs, governance and operations across the combined company.

Clari and Salesloft closed their merger in December 2025. The company presented the CISO appointment as a step in integrating the two businesses, which support thousands of organizations worldwide.

Describing his priorities, Liebert said: "My focus is on building a program customers can rely on."

Career path

Liebert's career covers 26 years, including 15 focused specifically on cybersecurity.

Before joining the State of California, he served the U.S. military as both an officer and a civilian. That work took him to organizations including United States Cyber Command and the Office of the Secretary of Defense Cyber Policy division.

His record runs from the U.S. Navy to the Department of Defense. It also includes work with foreign governments and time in the private sector.

He also held analyst and advisory roles with the IT security firm FireEye and the Defense Department.

California hired him in late 2016, a period when cybersecurity was the top IT priority of state governments.

He held two roles at the same time: State Chief Information Security Officer, and Director of the Office of Information Security at the California Department of Technology.

As State CISO, he was the primary state government authority responsible for the confidentiality, integrity and availability of state systems and applications. That remit covered information assets serving nearly 30 million residents.

He served as California's CISO for two and a half years.

He then became Vice President of Cybersecurity at Vista Equity Partners. There he jointly oversaw cyber risk across approximately $100 billion in SaaS assets.

Building California's security office

The Office of Information Security grew from nine staffers to 60 in two years under Liebert.

During his tenure, the office:

• created a security operations center, which opened in late 2017;
• formed a public-safety working group;
• developed software licensing programs;
• standardized cybersecurity maturity metrics.

One licensing program, SLP-plus, let any government entity in California, including schools, buy vetted end-point protection platforms at discounted prices under a common licensing agreement.

California also became the first state to evaluate its departments and agencies for cybersecurity preparedness and grade them on maturity metrics.

Liebert gathered input from 40 state departments and drafted a five-year cybersecurity strategy for executive branch agencies, named CalSecure. He described it as the first governmentwide cybersecurity plan for California's executive branch.

He also had significant input into the department's Vision 2020 strategic plan, which deals extensively with cybersecurity.

Liebert named hiring the team that runs the office as his proudest accomplishment.

Public speaking and recognition

As State CISO, Liebert spoke frequently at California industry events and on panels at county and state levels.

At one cybersecurity conference in Sacramento, he was a panelist for three separate breakout sessions.

Liebert is a recipient of the RSA Conference CSO of the Year award.