Christopher Kenessey

Chief Executive Officer AlertMedia

Last Reviewed: September 28, 2026

Executive Summary

Christopher Kenessey is chief executive officer of AlertMedia, the Austin, Texas company whose software lets organisations send emergency notifications across multiple channels and monitor threats to their people and sites. He took over in March 2022 from founder Brian Cruver, who became executive chairman. He arrived as an experienced operator of software companies through to a sale: he had run NetMotion, a remote connectivity and security vendor, as CEO from 2016 until Absolute Software bought it for $340 million in 2021. Earlier he built his career in enterprise software sales, including at Tidal Software, Cisco and The Foundry.

Career Highlights

• Chief Executive Officer of AlertMedia since March 2022, succeeding founder Brian Cruver.
• CEO of NetMotion from July 2016, having first served as its president; led the company into its $340 million all-cash acquisition by Absolute Software, announced in May 2021 and completed that July.
• Chief sales and marketing officer at The Foundry, the creative software company, which NetMotion said he helped lead to a $313 million sale to HgCapital.
• Vice president of worldwide sales at Tidal Software, joining Cisco through its acquisition of Tidal and helping grow the division from $4 million to $53 million.
• Earlier leadership positions at Compuware.

Professional Journey

Kenessey’s early career was in enterprise software sales. After leadership roles at Compuware, he was vice president of worldwide sales at Tidal Software and moved to Cisco Systems when Cisco acquired Tidal; NetMotion later credited him with helping grow that business from $4 million to $53 million. He then became chief sales and marketing officer of The Foundry, the creative software maker, which was sold to HgCapital for $313 million.

He joined NetMotion Wireless as president, running its day-to-day operations, and on 12 July 2016 was appointed chief executive, succeeding John Ferron, who remained on the board. NetMotion, later NetMotion Software, sold mobile VPN, zero trust network access and experience monitoring software for large fleets of remote devices. In May 2021 Absolute Software agreed to buy it for $340 million in cash; at the time NetMotion reported about $55 million in annual recurring revenue and about $60 million in revenue. Kenessey framed the deal around the shift away from legacy networking toward “zero-trust secure access solutions”. The acquisition completed in July 2021.

In March 2022 AlertMedia named him CEO. Brian Cruver, who had led the company since its founding, became executive chairman, and the company said more than 600 organisations had adopted its software in the preceding 12 months. Kenessey said he had felt “a profound connection to the company’s mission, unique culture, and extraordinary products.” AlertMedia now reports more than 3,500 customers in over 150 countries and more than 450 employees, and its leadership team includes a separate president, Alex Vaccaro.

Education

No education record was found in the sources reviewed.