Cobalt — the pioneer of Penetration Testing as a Service (PTaaS) and a leading provider of human-led, AI-powered offensive security — has announced that its CEO, Sonali Shah, has been recognised by CRN on the prestigious Women of the Channel list for 2026. This marks the second consecutive year that Shah has been honoured for her vision and leadership within the IT channel ecosystem — a recognition that reflects both her personal impact and the growing strategic importance of offensive security in the modern enterprise.
About the CRN Women of the Channel Recognition
The CRN Women of the Channel list is one of the most prestigious annual recognitions in the technology industry — celebrating an elite group of women from vendors, distributors, and solution providers whose expertise, strategic vision, and dedication to the channel community are driving growth and innovation across the IT sector. Honourees are selected based on a rigorous assessment of professional accomplishments, leadership impact, and commitment to advancing the broader channel ecosystem.
As CEO of Cobalt, Shah has played a critical role in elevating offensive security from a point-in-time service to a continuous, programmatic discipline — aligned to modern software development cycles and enterprise risk priorities. Her inclusion on this list for the second year in a row reflects a sustained and deepening impact on the channel, not a single moment of recognition.
"It's a privilege to celebrate the remarkable achievements of these women who are driving meaningful change across the IT channel. Each honoree has demonstrated exceptional leadership and a commitment to bold, innovative strategies that fuel transformation, growth, and success for their organizations and the broader channel." — Jennifer Follett, VP of U.S. Content and Executive Editor, CRN
"Being recognized on the Women of the Channel list is an honor, and a reflection of the broader shift happening across the security industry. Our partners are at the center of helping organizations move toward continuous, real-world security assurance. Together, we are redefining how security testing is delivered, making it more scalable, more collaborative, and more aligned to how businesses actually operate today."— Sonali Shah, CEO, Cobalt
Who Is Sonali Shah? A Career Defined by Security Innovation
Sonali Shah is one of the most accomplished leaders in enterprise cybersecurity. She joined Cobalt as CEO in August 2024 — having first served on the company's Board of Directors — bringing with her more than 20 years of experience scaling high-growth cybersecurity businesses from early-stage through to successful exits. She is one of very few female CEOs leading a major cybersecurity vendor anywhere in the world.
Her career is defined by a consistent pattern of building category-defining security products. She pioneered the first cybersecurity risk rating platform — Bitsight Security Ratings — which fundamentally changed how organisations and their partners measure and communicate security posture. She developed product vision and strategy at Human Security, and drove the transformation of legacy application security technology at both Veracode and Invicti, enabling early and frequent testing of web applications and APIs. She played a strategic role in the successful acquisitions of both Veracode and Invicti. Earlier in her career, Shah served as an investment banker at Credit Suisse, giving her a unique combination of financial acumen and deep security product expertise.
Academically, Shah holds an MBA from the Wharton School of Business and a Masters in Economics from the London School of Economics — a dual academic pedigree that underpins her ability to connect security strategy to commercial outcomes at the board level. Beyond her executive role, she serves on the boards of two Boston-based non-profits — 826 Boston and Mass TLC — and is a Board Advisor to ThreatX, reflecting her broader commitment to advancing the technology and education ecosystem.
Redefining How Security Testing Is Delivered at Scale
The recognition reflects a leadership journey that is inseparable from a broader industry transformation. Traditional penetration testing — conducted as an annual or semi-annual exercise by external consultants operating in isolation from development and security teams — is no longer adequate for organisations whose software ships continuously and whose attack surfaces expand with every new application, API, or AI workload deployed.
Shah has been at the forefront of shifting the industry's expectations from one-off testing to measurable, continuous outcomes that directly improve enterprise resilience and business performance. By building a partner ecosystem that puts channel organisations at the centre of delivering continuous, real-world security assurance, Cobalt under Shah has made security testing more scalable, more collaborative, and more aligned to how modern businesses actually operate — not how the industry once assumed they did.
Shah has also been a visible champion of diversity and inclusion in cybersecurity — using her platform as one of very few female CEOs in the sector to mentor emerging leaders and ensure the industry reflects the communities it serves. This dimension of her leadership is as much a part of the CRN recognition as her commercial accomplishments.