Marissa Schmidt is a Senior Director Analyst at Gartner specializing in AI security and cloud networking. She has deep expertise in security products and solutions for data centers and cloud environments, including AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud, with a focus on multicloud and hybrid multicloud architectures.Her areas of expertise include AI security platforms; generative AI and agentic AI security; WAAP; WAF; SASE; SSE; CNAPP; and Application Delivery Controllers (ADCs).Marissa advises both technology vendors and end-user organizations. For vendors, she provides guidance on product management, positioning, strategy, differentiation, and go-to-market planning. She also has extensive experience with pricing for on-premises, cloud, and SaaS products, as well as competitive pricing analysis.For end-user organizations, Marissa provides guidance on solution selection, deployment strategies, RFI inclusion, and security architectures for AI security platforms, WAAP, CNAPP, generative AI and agentic AI security guardrails, and ADCs.
Prior to joining Gartner, Ms. Schmidt worked for Citrix as Senior Director of Product Management with full product lifecycle responsibility of NetScaler/Application Delivery Controller product line which includes software load balancing, global load balancing, web application firewall, application security, SSL encryption/decryption, NIST/FIPS/GDPR compliance, SaaS product introduction, and hardware appliances. She also worked at Nortel and Bay Networks as engineering manager and engineer in routing, switches and load balancing and installing these at customer/end user environments. She is an expert in the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model from Engineering to Product Management roles.
Nortel, Product Line Management and Engineering Management roles, 9 years
Bay Networks, Engineering and Engineering management, 4 years
Citrix, Senior Director Product Management, 14 years
Deliver Product Leadership Excellence
Product Strategy Development
Product Strategy for AI Vendors
M.S, Engineering Management, Santa Clara University
B.S, Computer Engineering, Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo
Certificate Product Management Program, UC Berkeley
Guiding product managers positioning, strategy and vision for cloud networking products
Helping product managers create products with data protection and layered security
Helping product managers create products that improve network and application performance for on premise and cloud products
Helping product managers create products for hybrid multi cloud
Guiding product managers on competitive pricing for on premise, cloud and SaaS products