Michael J. Graven

“Very Creative , Innovative Transparent Leader. Developed early sales process and generated sales on large scale which was key for Expel as a startup. Later evolved customer relationships setting the tone for revenue retention also a key factor for investors. Rolls up his sleeves whether acting as an individual contributor or managing a team to figure the days problems. He wakes up everyday wanting to make the company and where possible those around him better while working to put those he manages in the best possible position to succeed. While Cybersecurity is a core focus, MJG would be an asset in any organization or field.”

“Working for Graven at CrowdStrike has been a fantastic and unique experience. Graven successfully balances autonomy and advocacy for those he manages. His management style is a “Graven-ism” I will keep in my back pocket for future use in my career. Additionally, the perspective he shared through his experience in the industry and marketplace taught me a lot about our business and the way the cybersecurity community functions. Importantly, he made me feel like I can find, or rather make, a place for myself in this work. There is immeasurable value to a boss who is not just a boss, but a mentor. I’m grateful for the opportunity to have worked for him and learned from him.”

“One of the joys of working at first-tier university is the quality of the students that you get to interact with. Michael was one of those very bright and extremely personable (I guess at the age of 60, I'm allowed to say) kids who was clearly fascinated with computing and just made it his own. Michael picked up and ran with anything we threw at him on both the technical and relationship management side. In particular, he was able to succeed with our wealthiest and most demanding customer--the Kellogg Graduate School of Management. And while meeting our premier customer's needs, he also mentored and grew his team of more junior folks. I have no idea what skills Michael has developed since we worked together, but in my experience aptitude and character are constants. I was happy to have him on my team in 1993 and I'd hire him in a heartbeat today.”

“Michael and I were the two founding sales engineers at ESI; I recognized his talent and that he wasn't being put to the best use as the IT Director and pointed him in the direction of sales team. He did a fantastic job supporting account execs and in many cases handling most of the sales process himself including closing the largest deal in the company's history. I enjoyed working with Michael, and have the utmost respect for his technical and sales ability, so when he called me a few years later to go work for him at Mandiant, i jumped at the opportunity.”

“I’ve worked with Michael in a sales capacity for nearly five years. In that time I’ve had ample opportunity to observe his creative approach to software sales throughout the lifecycle of a maturing business. We worked together bootstrapping initial sales as a team of two, bringing a 1.0 product to market. Michael has a deft customer touch in addition to significant technical depth, allowing him to fully manage the customer relationship at all levels in the customer’s organization and through all phases of the sales process. His dedication and energy allowed us to achieve our first $1M in bookings inside our first year of going to market, and an aggregate of $10M in bookings within our first three years of sales. His thoughtful, consultative approach is welcomed by customers and would be an asset to any sales program.”

“Michael was one of the best hires we made at Elemental Security. He managed our tech and systems with excellent efficiency and effectiveness. He later evolved into a sales engineer role, where his experience as a tech manager and ability to relate to the needs of tech managers help make him effective in that job as well. I strongly recommend Mike with no reservations.”

“Michael has the technical expertise, insight and talent to manage our very complicated sales process here at Mandiant. He manages it all with a great sense of humor, fairness and balance. All this combined makes the sales environment here at Mandiant a fun place to work and thrive.”

“Details of the Recommendation: "Michael is the ultimate professional. During our time working together at Blue Martini, he was always unflappable regardless of the circumstances, displaying a great sense of humor even in the face of loud angst and always delivering a solution in a timely fashion. More importantly, he impressed that same attitude upon his team, always referring to the rest of the company as "customers" and demanding respectful interactions at all times. His communication skills are stellar as is his ability to collaborate effectively. Overall, he's one of the sharpest guys I've ever worked with, and I really hope that I'll have another opportunity to work with him in the future."”

“The best IT Manager I have ever worked with. Follows best practices and processes. Has deep knowledge of infrastructure, network and systems. Very approachable, precise and extremely helpful.”

“Michael brings a degree of professionalism and calm to his work that is refreshing, makng him a pleasure to work with. He combines precision with humor and takes a "no nonsense" approach to problem solving. He can assess a problem situation quickly, no matter how complex, and produce practical solutions in short order.”