July 02, 2025

Scrappy Then, Strategic Now: The Evolution of a Cybersecurity CMO

34 minutes

Most first marketers don’t stay long enough to see scale. Thomas LeDuc did. Six years in, he’s still at Semperis, leading a 35-person marketing team and showing it’s possible to evolve from scrappy to strategic.

Gianna and Charles explore what makes that kind of longevity possible: the mindset shifts, the habits that stuck, and the moments that nearly broke him. This episode is full of clarity, honesty, and the kind of leadership most people don’t talk about.

You’ll hear:

Why growing with the company means unlearning just as much as learning.

How Tom hires people who want the blank page, not the playbook

What it takes to stop micromanaging and still care deeply

The difference between culture as words and culture as actions

How a team's passion project became a Braille space education initiative

This one will land if you’ve ever had to scale yourself while scaling a team.

🔗 Links & Resources:

Semperis — ⁠semperis.com⁠

How to build a centaur: Semperis hits $100M ARR milestone: https://www.insightpartners.com/ideas/how-to-build-a-centaur-semperis-hits-100m-arr-milestone/

When Space Camp calls, you go! #ForceForGood https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEgz45b-RgA

⁠Webflow⁠ — No-code website builder

⁠Join the Cybersecurity Marketing Society⁠: Join our 3,700+ member Slack, find jobs, and get connected.

About Tom:

Tom LeDuc joined Semperis in 2019 as a scrappy marketer and helped scale the company from a few million ARR to now more than $100M ARR, reaching “centaur status” in 2024. Today, he leads a 35-person team as CMO, overseeing everything from brand and product marketing to demand gen, field programs, and built out the SDR program.

Before Semperis, he held leadership roles at Verodin (acquired by FireEye). He got his start in cybersecurity as a BDR at Securonix and played a big role in building several categories you’ve probably seen on Gartner quadrants.

Outside work, Tom is a dad of two young kiddos, makes indie films, travels a lot, and is very pro-dog.

Thomas LeDuc on ⁠LinkedIn

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📩 Questions, feedback, or want to be a guest? Email: ⁠[email protected]⁠

Follow the Hosts:

Gianna Whitver on ⁠LinkedIn⁠

Charles Gold on ⁠LinkedIn⁠

Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Breaking Through in Cybersecurity Marketing. You can join the Cybersecurity Marketing Society on ⁠our website⁠, main ⁠LinkedIn page⁠, ⁠Instagram⁠ page, or podcast ⁠LinkedIn⁠ page.

See you in the next episode!

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By Cybersecurity Marketing Society | N2K Networks

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