Marek Rehulka first thought about joining GINA five years ago, but eventually decided to gain more experience by working for the world's largest technology companies and US government organisations. He accepted the offer from GINA only this year and in September he took up the position of CTO. Having experienced one of the largest global hacking attacks at a previous company, he knows how important cybersecurity is. At the same time, he sees that everything starts and ends with people, so he wants to promote training and simplify routine work in the team, where he immediately fit in.
hile studying at the Faculty of Information Technology at the Brno University of Technology, he joined CUTTER Systems, where he worked, among other things, on locating miners in mines and speeding up production in the automotive industry. "We worked both in .NET technologies and on Android. It was the basic programming training that made me work my way up," lists the new CTO of GINA.
His desire to try working for a multinational corporation led him to SolarWinds. He worked his way up from a senior .NET developer to a tech lead, mentoring the team on the one hand and contributing to architecture designs and innovations on the other. For five years he helped with IT infrastructure for the world's biggest players such as Microsoft, MasterCard, NVIDIA and NASA. "But it was still something abstract. At GINA we do the complete opposite, I'm part of a strike team that creates tangible technologies for a better world. For me, this is more of a mission than a job, and I believe it will continue to be for a long time to come," says Marek Rehulka, highlighting one of the company's main principles.
THE QUESTION IS NOT IF, BUT WHEN
Working for SolarWinds he experienced perhaps the biggest hacking attack in modern times. At the time, attackers uploaded malware to selected applications that allowed them partial access to client systems. This event directed him to one of the priorities he sees for GINA: "It affected a huge portion of clients and, unfortunately, U.S. government agencies. After this experience, I see security as critical. Because it's not a question of if we will ever be targeted by hackers, it's a question of when. We must remember that wars will increasingly be fought in cyberspace. GINA, as a provider of strategic solutions for security and emergency services, may become a target."
"Working with Marek is key for us, as his experience fits perfectly into our long-term plans. I believe he will help us to better manage the rapid growth of our user base around the world and bring even more significant technological innovations to help save lives. Marek will oversee the company's technology vision and will lead our implementation teams," summarizes GINA CEO Zbynek Poulicek.
The new CTO's goals include analysing processes and developing a technical strategy to open new markets for GINA. "I would like to automate processes in all my teams to reduce the time spent on routine activities. At the same time, I want to promote training. Of course, I will also address leadership, because it is important for all of us to enjoy our work, make it meaningful and make it more than just a job," concludes the new CTO Marek Rehulka.