authID Announces its 2025 Board of Directors Nominees Ahead of Annual Meeting
Highly Qualified New Board Nominees Will Strengthen authID's mission to Drive Growth and Value Creation for Shareholders
2025 Annual Meeting to be Held on June 26, 2025
DENVER, May 27, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- authID® (NASDAQ:AUID)("authID" or the "Company"), a leading provider of biometric identity verification and authentication solutions, is nominating four highly qualified executives to the Board of Directors (the "Board"), in addition to the nomination of existing directors, included within the 2025 Proxy Statement filed on May 16, 2025. The 2025 Annual Meeting will be held virtually on June 26, 2025, at 10.00 a.m. EDT.
The following new Board nominees will be up for election at the Company's 2025 Annual Meeting:
- Stephen J. Garchik - President of SJM Partners and authID's largest shareholder
- Ram Menghani – Past President of NEC Enterprise Communication Technologies
- Nicholas Shevelyov - Founder of vCSO.ai and former CSO of Silicon Valley Bank
- Shrikrishna Venkataraman - Former CFO of Socure and KnowBe4 (Nasdaq KNBE)
Further information about each nominee is included at the end of this release.
"authID is fortunate to nominate these talented business leaders to our Board," said Rhon Daguro, authID's Chief Executive Officer. "Their willingness to serve demonstrates their belief in our mission to deliver market-leading biometric identity authentication solutions in an increasingly AI-driven world. We look forward to benefitting from their leadership as we continue to focus on driving growth and creating value for shareholders."
"With AI evolving rapidly and cybersecurity more critical than ever, biometrics will play a foundational role in shaping our digital future," said Krish Venkataraman, former President of Dataiku, Co-President/Board member of KnowBe4 (prior ticker: KNBE), and CFO of Socure. "authID has taken a truly differentiated approach to biometrics—one that is well-suited for rapid adoption by large enterprises. I'm deeply impressed by what this talented team of identity and fraud prevention experts has achieved in such a short time, and I'm excited to support their continued growth by joining the Board."
"I've been fortunate to partner with forward-looking tech companies over the years, and I believe that authID can surpass my expectations for innovation and vision," said Ram Menghani, Past President of NEC Enterprise Communication Technologies. "They can not only compete but transcend other players in bringing biometric assurance to public and private sector organizations and be a truly great global partner for companies like mine who need the confidence of knowing who is behind each and every device. I look forward to helping authID grow and flourish in its next stage of development by joining the Board."
"Like the leadership team at authID, I have worked for decades in cybersecurity, so we share the same vision for safeguarding the enterprise, while protecting user privacy," said Nick Shevelyov, Founder of vCSO.ai. "I am excited to join the Board as I feel they are the right organization at the right time to provide the best of biometric identity security to a market that absolutely requires security and compliance as the cloud continues to expand not only enterprise opportunities but also enterprise risks."
"I have placed my confidence in authID's technology for many years and now we see that authID is expanding its global presence," said Stephen J. Garchik, President of SJM Partners. "authID's biometric identity platform is helping an increasing number of organizations securely manage identities across borders and verticals, while maintaining compliance with international laws. I am delighted for the opportunity to join the Board and help the Company in the next phase of its journey."
At the meeting, proposals will be submitted to elect directors, ratify the appointment of auditors and ratify an increase in the shares allocated to the 2024 Equity Incentive Plan.
In addition to recommending the new Board nominees, authID is proposing the election of six of the current directors. Thomas Szoke, Founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO), will step down as a director at the meeting, in order to focus on his role as CTO to continue enhancing the Company's technology.
"On behalf of the Board, I want to thank Tom for his significant contributions to authID as a board director," added Daguro. "Fortunately, authID will continue to benefit from Tom's visionary direction and strategic contributions in his continuing critical role as authID's CTO."
Annual Meeting
The Company has filed its Proxy Statement with the SEC, which explains all the proposals and provides other information about the Company, and is mailing the Notice of Meeting, the Proxy Statement and additional materials related to the Annual Meeting to stockholders. Stockholders who hold their shares through brokerage accounts will receive the materials via their brokers, either through the mail, or electronically depending on their communication preferences.
The meeting will be held via a webcast. To join the webcast, investors must register in advance here: authID 2025 Annual Meeting Registration. Participants are advised to pre-register with a validated email address. Registrants will receive a confirmation email and calendar notice to add the meeting to your calendar. During the call, attendees will be invited to ask questions through the Q&A option in the Meeting webcast portal.
Stockholders will be able to view the materials electronically at the Company's Investor Relations site at 2024 Annual Reports or at www.investorvote.com/AUID.
Stockholders will also be able to vote electronically, in accordance with the instructions provided in the materials each will receive. Stockholders are encouraged to vote by proxy ahead of the meeting, whether or not they plan to attend the meeting, to ensure their votes are counted.
Director Nominee Biographies
Stephen J. Garchik
Mr. Garchik has been associated with authID for approximately 10 years as a major investor and supporter and now holder of 10% of the outstanding common stock. Since 1997, Mr. Garchik has been President of SJM Partners, a real estate development, design and construction, leasing and management company. SJM Partners owns over 40 retail, commercial and residential properties. Mr. Garchik has over 40 years of management and business experience and serves on the board of several non-profit institutions. He holds a Bachelor of Science and M.B.A. degree from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Garchik's extensive experience provides authID's Board with a valuable perspective regarding business management, operations and strategy, in addition to a broad range of business connections.
Ram Menghani
Mr. Menghani has been Past President of NEC Enterprise Communications from 2020 to 2025 and is executive advisor to NEC, having joined NEC Corporation of America in 2001, serving in various roles in product management and development. He has over 30 years of global leadership experience in unified communications, product innovation, and digital transformation. Mr. Menghani's track record includes forging partnerships with major tech players like Microsoft and Oracle, modernizing legacy systems into cloud-based models, and guiding startups to successful exits. Mr. Menghani has deep expertise in product strategy, global markets, and digital innovation and brings his global high tech business partnerships and scaling expertise to the Board.
Nicholas "Nick" Shevelyov
Mr. Shevelyov is a cybersecurity executive with 30 years of experience who served as Chief Security and Privacy Officer and later as Chief Information Officer at Silicon Valley Bank from 2007 to 2021. He led key initiatives in cybersecurity strategy, cloud transformation, and modern software delivery there. Mr. Shevelyov was an early design partner to industry leaders like Palo Alto Networks, Zscaler, and FireEye. In 2021, he published "Cyber War…and Peace" and founded and serves as CEO of vCSO.ai, a cybersecurity advisory firm supporting organizations such as Group 42, the Audubon Society, and multiple cybersecurity product companies. He also serves on the Bay Area CSO Council and Cofense boards. Mr. Shevelyov has a bachelor's degree in Economics from San Francisco State University and an MBA from University of San Francisco School of Management. Mr. Shevelyov's CSO experience and expertise will provide authID with invaluable insight and experience in relation to its core activities as well as connections in the cybersecurity industry.
Shrikrishna "Krish" Venkataraman
Mr. Venkataraman is a seasoned technology and Wall Street executive with a strong track record of leading IPOs, strategic sales, and large-scale corporate transformations. He represents a new generation of multi-disciplinary executives, having served in roles including President, CFO, COO, CAO, and public/private board member. Beyond traditional finance responsibilities — treasury, controllership, M&A, and investor relations — he has led sales, HR, IT, legal, and operations teams with a strong focus on IT and cybersecurity governance. Mr. Venkataraman served as President of Daitaku a leading AI firm, from 2023 to April 2025. Prior to that from 2022 to 2023 he was the Chief Financial Officer of Socure Inc. Mr. Venkataraman served as Co-President and Chief Financial Officer of KnowBe4 Inc. (NASDAQ:KNBE) a global security platform offering human risk management, from 2018 to 2022 and for a subsequent year as a Board member. Earlier in his career, he held leadership roles at Dealogic Lehman Brothers, NYSE Euronext, American Express, and Deloitte Consulting. Krish holds a B.S. from Carnegie Mellon University and an MBA from Cornell University's Johnson Graduate School of Management. He brings his high-tech finance expertise to help authID with strategic deals, strategic capital, and generally in matters of corporate finance.
About authID Inc.
authID (NASDAQ:AUID) ensures enterprises "Know Who's Behind the Device™" for every customer or employee login and transaction through its easy-to-integrate, patented biometric identity platform. authID powers biometric identity proofing in 700ms, biometric authentication in 25ms, and account recovery with a fast, accurate, user-friendly experience. With our ground-breaking PrivacyKey™ solution, authID provides a 1-to-1-billion false match rate, while storing no biometric data. authID stops fraud at onboarding, blocks deepfakes, prevents account takeover, and eliminates password risks and costs, through the fastest, most frictionless, and most accurate user identity experience demanded by today's digital ecosystem.
For further information please visit authid.ai
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