Anthony Perez

Tony Perez carved out a successful career in building businesses around break-through products rooted in technology, security and innovation. His first experience in security occurred when he received a US Army “secret” clearance to work with nuclear ordinance and performed advanced calculations without computer assistance. Mr. Perez received a field promotion to US Army Captain, Artillery, and was awarded the Purple Heart in combat. This experience grounded him in the importance of security best practices, which he implements in working with intellectual properties and new product development.

His initial start-up experience was with IMAGIC, a video gaming business, where he served as Vice President of Operations. He built the department from the ground up, overseeing manufacturing operations and steered the company to $70 million in video games shipped worldwide in his first year. Mr. Perez later founded Safety Syringes, a suite of medical devices that received 10 U.S. patents and FDA approval for 5 medical devices. In 2012, the company was sold to Becton-Dickinson, a leading global medical device technology company.

Mr. Perez is a visionary and became intrigued with cyber-technology and the growing issues around security and privacy. In an online world where large-scale, devastating hacking events were becoming commonplace, his research pointed out that passwords needed to be replaced. He determined that creating a user-friendly passwordless login was the best approach to gaining security and privacy for online users. He created a unique photo authentication technology (called Photolok®) that replaces passwords with greater online security, including situational security.

In July 2017, Mr. Perez received his first US Patent and, in 2018, his second US Patent for his photo-based authentication technology (branded as Photolok). In October 2017, Netlok started to receive innovation awards for its state-of-the-art authentication. Today Photolok is serving as a foundation for positioning Netlok as a leading company in Identity and Access Management (IAM) and password replacement.

Mr. Perez received his Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from California State University in Los Angeles and dual Masters degrees in Public Administration and Healthcare Administration from the University of Southern California where he also focused on Future Studies. He is an insightful, engaging, dynamic and passionate speaker on cyber-security, and his TEDx talk entitled “Black Hats Rising” has gained an enthusiastic response. Mr. Perez enjoys living in Santa Barbara, CA.