# John Ackerly

> John Ackerly is the co-founder and CEO of Virtru, a Washington-based data security company he built with his brother Will. A former White House National Economic Council technology policy adviser, Commerce Department policy director and Lindsay Goldberg investor, he focuses on enabling information sharing while preserving control over access. He is a Williams graduate, Rhodes Scholar and Harvard MBA, and received regional EY Entrepreneur of the Year and CyberScoop 50 recognition in 2025.

- **Role:** Co-Founder & CEO at Virtru
- **Organizations:** Virtru, Lindsay Goldberg, White House National Economic Council, US Department of Commerce
- **Education:** Undergraduate degree, summa cum laude; field not verified, Williams College, University of Oxford, MBA, with highest honors, Harvard Business School
- **Known for:** Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University., Graduated from Williams College summa cum laude., Earned a Harvard Business School MBA with highest honors.

## Career timeline

- **1997** — Graduated from Williams College; college records list tennis among his varsity activities and identify him as a Rhodes Scholar.
- **2001** — Worked on technology policy and federal privacy legislation at the White House National Economic Council during the September 11 attacks.
- **—** — Served as policy and strategic planning director at the US Department of Commerce.
- **2004-2006** — Attended Harvard Business School and earned an MBA.
- **—** — Worked as an investor at Lindsay Goldberg before co-founding Virtru.
- **2012** — Virtru’s official company history dates its founding by John and Will Ackerly to 2012.
- **2014** — First customer arrived, according to Ackerly’s 2020 founder interview.
- **2022** — Virtru announced the OpenTDF open-source project on June 6.
- **2023** — Virtru opened The Hub, a 17,000-square-foot Washington headquarters.
- **2025** — Won EY Entrepreneur of the Year for the Mid-Atlantic region and a CyberScoop 50 Industry Leadership award; Virtru announced $50 million in funding at a $500 million valuation.
- **2026** — Led Virtru as it launched Collaborate and announced partnerships with Mattermost and Glasswall.

## Achievements

- Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University.
- Graduated from Williams College summa cum laude.
- Earned a Harvard Business School MBA with highest honors.
- Co-founded and leads Virtru, which reported more than 6,000 organizational customers in July 2025.
- 2025 EY Entrepreneur of the Year winner, Mid-Atlantic region.
- 2025 CyberScoop 50 winner, Industry Leadership category.
- Virtru’s July 2025 funding round raised $50 million at a $500 million company valuation.

## Latest updates

- **2026-10** — Virtru announced its fifth consecutive Inc. Power Partner award on October 20.
- **2026-09** — Virtru and Glasswall announced a partnership combining file reconstruction with persistent data protection on September 22.
- **2026-07** — Virtru and Mattermost announced protected file-sharing integration on July 28.
- **2026-05** — Virtru launched the FedRAMP-authorized Collaborate offering on May 19.
- **2026-03** — Ackerly appeared on SecureTalk to discuss privacy, data control, encryption backdoors and AI workflows.

## Links

- Website: https://www.virtru.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-ackerly

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/john-ackerly
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-26